The Resting Needle
by CarnileN
Summary: One month since the Needles were pulled,everything seemed fine, but a contradiction of that shows up in the form of a strange storm. Could it mean something? Then, it is revealed. The last Magypsy had to warn Lucas about the aftermath of releasing the Dragon. It has to be sealed again by one last Needle.
1. A New Day

It was another morning in the beautiful Nowhere Islands. Most of the heroes' family was in their house. Hinawa in the kitchen doing what she loved the most, cooking for their sons whom always praised her food.

Claus lay on the couch, watching television as he waited for breakfast. Flint, the twins' father had to work early that day. And Lucas was the one that stayed up the most last night hence he hadn't woken yet.

"Claus, is your brother up already?"

"No, you want me to wake him up?"

"Please, the breakfast is almost done."

After trying, Lucas asked Claus for 5 more minutes. Being the good brother he was, he let Lucas sleep a little more. Then, after more than 10 minutes passed and Claus got tired of his brother's laziness, he decided to do something.

"I have an idea," he smiled maliciously.

The redhead went to the kitchen for a glass filled with cold water. _With this Lucas will learn not to drink too much water before sleeping and this will be fun for me to watch. Everybody wins._

Claus carefully placed the glass of water beside the bed and put his brother hand inside it. After a few seconds Lucas shivered, Claus chuckled, and suddenly Lucas woke up, throwing the glass of water to his brother face. Claus felt his shirt plastered to his body with every drop of water now in him

"Great..." Claus muttered.

"S-Sorry Cla–wait, what were you trying to do?" Lucas said, sitting up.

Claus didn't respond. He got up from the chair he was watching the blond and went to the bathroom to change his clothes.

Hinawa entered the room and almost stumbled with the glass. "What happened?"

"Apparently I just ruined Claus' little prank," Lucas said grinning.

Claus sighed. "It was good luck," the redhead replied, walking back into the room.

"Well, let's go the breakfast is ready,"

Each one sat at their place on the table and started eating. There was not much conversation because the twins were concentrated in eating their omelets. Hinawa giggled at this. When they finished with the breakfast their mom had to leave, she said she had to buy something. Meanwhile Lucas offered himself to do the dishes; Claus didn't have an option, he just lay down in the couch watching Lucas.

He was so bored just watching his brother that he decided to talk to Boney who was besides the couch, relaxed.

"I bet you that he will break at least two dishes trying to brush them, he is obsessed with the little stains," Claus said not expecting an answer for obvious reasons.

Boney grinned and barked "You're wrong, he will break two dishes, because something will scare him," Claus heard the words in his mind

"What the–" Claus interrupted himself falling down from the couch; he didn't know he could hear animals. Neat!

The sudden noise of Claus hitting the floor made Lucas jump and break 2 dishes. "Aww, not again,"

"Well, now you owe me some steak," Claus listened to Boney's funny voice in his mind.

"What happened Claus, what are you doing on the floor?" Lucas asked.

"I just heard Boney talking?" Claus was not sure if what he just said made any sense at all.

"Oh yeah, you didn't know that?" Lucas responded as if it was the most common thing in the world.

"That our dog talks? No!" Claus exclaimed the last part.

"Ha-ha, he doesn't talk; your PSI lets you hear him."

"Claus, Lucas, are you there?" Someone shouted from outside the house.

"Who is it?" Claus asked

"It's me Fuel, come on open."

"What's up Fuel," Lucas greeted taking a seat in the couch.

"What, you don't remember?" Fuel rolled his eyes at the clueless look of the twins. "We were going to celebrate; it has been one month since all of this ended, thanks to you two."

After a short talk about how much everything have changed the last month the twins proceeded to change their clothes then leave to the town, along with Fuel and Boney. Most of the town was deserted; the only noise was coming from the place's only hotel where they decided to go. In there they found all the people the town was lacking. Friends and new citizens were waiting for them in the Yado Inn. The celebration was more like a small party which everyone enjoyed. The only thing that could interrupt the atmosphere for the twins were the thoughts of how Kumatora and Duster were. They haven't seen them in a whole month.

Earlier in Osohe Castle.

"Where did you hide my clothes?" Kumatora started yelling at a group of ghosts, "What's your problem. I hate this uniform!"

"Hey, calm down." One of the ghosts responded "When you left, we decided that that uniform fits you pretty well."

"Idiots!" Kumatora yelled once again making her point heard. "Now if you don't give me my clothes I'll kill you all."

"Good luck." The group of ghost vanished.

For several minutes Kumatora chased the group of ghosts who kept disappearing, until she trapped one in a corner. The ghost was in front of a wardrobe trying to hide something.

"You are dead!" Kumatora raised her finger giving off small sparkles and aimed at the ghost. She launched a fireball which missed the real target and burned down the wardrobe.

Kumatora growled for a second, and then realized that her clothes were in the wardrobe, when she lifted them, she found a collar.

She reached out and touched the collar. As her finger felt the golden collar, a memory came back to her. A blond kid and a tall man trying to hold a little brown dog inside a bath, while she was trying to bath the dog with a hose.

"Lucas, Duster, Boney... I remember this very well." Kumatora said looking at the picture with a smirk in her face.

At the same time in Duster's house…

"Moron, Moron, Moron! I can't believe you can't learn something as easy and important like this," Wess cried. "I will show you one last time and I hope you get it this time."

"Please no more, my eyes and legs hurt," Duster complained, it was already at night, and they haven't stop dancing–breaking furniture in the process.

Wess started dancing again. He always told this to his son that this dance would save his life one day, but he never understood.

"Oh right, now it's your turn, and please do it before I lock you up in your room," Wess said trying to keep himself away from throwing a chair at Duster.

"Again? But, but…" Duster kept complaining, but he would not win this discussion, his father was one of the most stubborn persons he knew. He gave up trying to avoid more failure attempts. Ge beagn to copy his dad's steps but it was too hard for him due to his injured leg. Suddenly he fell to the floor.

"Good job dad, now my other leg hurts. I'm going to my room, my legs can't stand this anymore, we can continue later."

"Hey, don't go yet, I want to tell you something." Wess said, in response Duster rolled his eyes. Now what kind of soulless torture was he going to get? "I'm glad you are back son," Wess said with a smirk on his face. "I'm proud of you and of your friends, you should pay them a visit.

There was silence in the room, the last words pointed to a priceless father-son moment but not… "Are you okay?" Duster asked with sincere preoccupation on words that didn't seem to belong in that man's mouth. It made Wess angry and his eyes twitched, "Yes I am, but you won't because we will continue dancing!"


	2. The first Warning

"Claus, Lucas, come down the breakfast is ready," Hinawa called from the kitchen.

"We are coming, mom," Lucas replied back.

"Mmm, I can smell something delicious," Claus sang in the way downstairs.

"Good morning," Hinawa greeted, adding the final touches to the favorite food of the twins: omelettes.

"Morning," both twins replied.

While Hinawa was finishing with the accompaniments, Lucas and Claus decided to set the table and get ready for a delicious meal. With the food ready in the table, they started eating and Lucas decided to open the conversation regarding what was going to be the plan for that day.

"Hey Claus, do you know who Kumatora is?" he acquired.

"Kumatora?" Claus responded tilting his head in confusion, "No, the name doesn't sound familiar."

Lucas thought of reminding Claus about that day he pulled the eight Needle, but first he would not have remembered, he wasn't even at full control of himself that day. And second it was a bad memory that would be better forgotten.

"Oh, maybe I was wrong. I was asking because dad told me that Duster asked 'bout me the other day, so it would be cool to see Duster again and then visit Kumatora from there."

"And that means…" Claus asked not really understanding the whole meaning of this.

"If you want to come, so you can meet Kuma and see Duster again. She also knows PSI as well so it will be easy to get along with her."

Claus shrugged "Yeah sure, why not, you told me that Duster accompanied you and Boney through that Needle thing. He must be a good friend of yours."

"Exactly, Kumatora is too."

Hinawa, who was quiet listening to her sons finally decided to speak up, "Now that you're saying that Lucas, I remember your dad telling me about them. He said that you three, well four counting Boney, are all very good friends." Lucas nodded in agreement to his mom.

After finishing with the breakfast, taking a shower and getting their trademark clothing, Claus and Lucas left the house heading to Duster and the old Wess' place.

Some minutes later they were in front of the door, but just a moment before they could knock someone opened it as in beckon. It was no other that Duster holding a medium-sized strawberry cake which neither of the twins could stop looking at. It smelled so good…

"Oh, Lucas, Claus I was going to see you," Duster greeted.

"Ha, it looks like we thought the same," Lucas responded. "But the cake, who is it for?"

"It's for Kumatora, remember, she told us her favorite flavor was strawberry…"

"That must explain the hair thing." Lucas laughed, so did Duster.

"Well, now we can all pay her a visit, and Claus can meet her."

And so the three left to direct to Kumatora's house… or castle. When they passed the cemetery with Claus not wanting to put a halt to his questions of why would a house be near a cemetery they finally reached their destination.

"Why do we stop?" Claus asked raising an eyebrow.

"Because here it is," Lucas replied with a grin in his face seeing his twin amazement.

"Wait, she lives in a castle!" Duster and Lucas nodded. "How is that even possible, does she come from some kind of royalty?"

"It's kind of a long story," Lucas told him.

After that, Lucas and Duster called Kumatora's name a couple of times until a certain pink haired came out of one of the castle's balconies. "Guys, what a great surprise, wait I'm coming down."

The big castle's gates started coming down slowly to form a bridge, the threesome crossed the bridge and waited until the actual door opened revealing an eager Kumatora. She ran towards them and gave a fast hug to Duster and Lucas, and finally gave a friendly gesture to Claus. "We're glad to see you too," Lucas laughed.

"Yeah, one month… it was like years," Duster added.

"I know, I kno- what's that?" Kumatora trailed off when her sight met the delicious looking strawberry cake.

"Oh, the cake. If I'm not wrong you love strawberry and I thought it would be a delicious 'meal' for us," Duster said.

"Wow, Duster baking, that's pretty interesting."

"Yeah, the last month my father had a lot of cravings so I eventually got tired of going to the bakery twice a day and better learned how to bake." Duster shrugged with indifference.

"It must be hard to satisfy the ol' Wess but this is enough for me," Kumatora said almost snatching the cake from Duster's hands.

"Hey there little princess the cake is for everyone." Lucas used his PSI to lift the cake and place it in his own hands. Now his and Claus' mouth were watering.

Everyone entered, Lucas and Duster were already acquainted with the place, but Claus not, he was amazed by the size and the looking of Kumatora's home. How a person can live alone in a place like this? Doesn't she get lost? Those were some of his questions but he decided to keep them for himself; it would get answered eventually. He had to follow Lucas from very close so he wouldn't get lost or something like that. They reached the dinning hall and everyone started cleaning a bit before getting their sits. With the table clear, everyone sat and Kumatora divided the cake in equal portions for the twins and Duster, leaving a bigger piece for her.

"This is delicious, Duster," Kumatora praised him.

"Lucas, we have a problem… I can see a certain brown fur ball is missing here."

"Yeah, I didn't see him in the morning, you know where it is?" Lucas asked turning to his brother who was clearly enjoying the dessert.

"Hmm, he accompanied dad to Lighter's house," Claus said still chewing his food; Lucas rolled his eyes at his brother's manners.

"Oh, okay. Just to clarify, you must be Claus, right?" Kumatora asked

"Yep."

"Your brother always talked about you," Kumatora smiled. "We couldn't get him to sleep until he told us a story of you."

"Ha-ha, yeah we had a lot of adventures back in the day before… well you know what. I'm happy that I can finally meet the two people that my little brother–" Claus started but got interrupted by Lucas.

"Ahem, we're twins there is no little or big brother,"

Claus rolled his eyes "Okay, as I was saying, that my little brother trusted in. I think we'll get along pretty well, but let's not get corny and better enjoy this art piece."

Lucas, Duster and Kumatora kept talking about the old times, which Claus didn't have to much to say. The old times for him were trying to destroy the world as he was being brainwashed by a ageless boy… Not the liveliest talk. However he still tried to enter in the chat most of the times making funny comments.

They finished talking around 6.00 pm. When they were going to leave Kumatora escorted them to the door. But when they gave the first step out of the castle the slight breeze of the morning got replaced by a heavy rain that was getting stronger each second.

"I have never seen something like this in Tazmily," Duster said breaking the silence.

"Me neither," Lucas replied.

"It looks like a storm is gathering or something," Kumatora said.

"It's already here," Lucas started, "and will just get stronger."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Tazmily isn't prepared for a storm. If it causes floods, the people may not know what to do."

"But, what can we do?" Duster asked showing another problem which made the four start thinking until Claus spoke up.

"And what if we use the castle as a shelter?"

Duster, Lucas and Claus turned to Kumatora who sighed heavily letting everyone hear it, a lot of people in her castle. She couldn't agree at all but Lucas was right, this people needed a place to stay.

"Ok, whatever, but if they break something you three are going to pay for it. I mean physically," Kumatora threatened, but they were already used to her threatens…and punishment. "Alright, how are we going to gather that much people in here?"

"I don't think there is an easy way, we better hurry," Lucas said, everyone else nodded and they departed to the town. While Duster and Kumatora were going to the town to warn the people, the twins went to their home to bring their parents along with them. By that time Flint was back in home with Boney so everything went well.

Then Claus and Lucas catch up with Duster and Kumatora. Most of the townsfolk were already on their way to Osohe Castle. The only zone left of Tazmily was the north. When they finished, the whole group came back to the castle to see at least more than half of Tazmily in a line, wondering when the castle's gates would open for them.

Kumatora walked up to the gate and stood there with confidence to explain the 'rules' before anyone could step inside the castle. "Everyone here, please listen to me, I will let you to stay here, and I remark, this is where I live, please don't do anything you could regret. I highly suggest not to move away from the other people, this castle is fairly big and I don't want you to get lost, and last but not least, _don't _disturb the ghosts or talk to them; some are pretty sensitive or have little patience while others will not stop follow you and will ask you to play with them…"

Before Kumatora could continue what seemed a presidential speech Lucas decided to intervene as the rain and wind were getting stronger. "That's all people, please get in and choose a place to set your stuff."

And they did as they were told. The night went on. It was already 10 pm with nothing to do and most of the people were already sleeping, Lucas decided to give Claus a little tour around the castle.

"I can't believe she lives by herself here. I mean is just too big," Claus said glancing everywhere.

Lucas laughed, "Yeah it's pretty roomy, and remember the ghosts also live here,"

"Ghosts… that sounds pretty crazy. What's that about?" Claus asked, Lucas was going to answer willingly another of his curious brother's question but when he opened his mouth, a clang from outside interrupted. At overview it looked like it came from the castle's gates.

"You heard that?"

"Yeah it's coming from the outside," Claus said motioning to where the front yard was.

"Come on, let's check what it is. Follow me," Lucas gestured his twin to follow.

They went all the way back from the kitchen to the balcony avoiding any sleeping body that they were encountered in the way. Once in the upper floor, they approached hesitantly poking out the heads, their mouths dropped from what they were seeing.

It looked like one of those kangashark, with some slight differences: the kangaroo bag was now replaced by some kind of small cannon; its legs looked mechanical and the eyes along with the ears looked a lot more sensitive to both noise and motion.

"We must tell Kuma-" Claus couldn't finish as he got grasped by what looked like an energy beam coming from the creature who got over the gates and was now holding Claus in the front yard.

"Claus!" Lucas shouted in surprise, he didn't think twice and leaped off the balcony, he gave a quick telepathic signal to Kumatora making her know that they were in danger.

The blond's first reaction coping the creature was to use his PSI to break his brother free from the half shark's strong grasp; Claus fell on the ground aside the shark and rolled to avoid a stomp of it.

The shark released once again his energy beam, this time blasting Lucas, sending him flying against the castle's doors which almost broke down from the slam. The noise woke some people up, including Duster who were already rushing off the castle to help his friends. Kumatora also joined him.

"Are you okay Lucas?" Duster asked, helping the young psychic getting up.

"Thanks Duster," He responded. Kumatora didn't hesitate and casted a PK Thunder at the shark. It sidestepped the attack and shot an energy ball aiming at Kumatora. She took the full attack falling to the ground slightly wounded.

Duster did the next move, throwing several smoke bombs to help Claus get out of the firing line; Lucas saw an opportunity here, "PK Love!" He shouted and bashed the shark with the attack in his hand.

The shark was struggling to get up, and Kumatora wanted retaliation. She placed her hands on the ground and spikes started coming out of it forming a line that was aiming at the creature. The chimera didn't have a chance other than trying to resist the attack, but Claus saw this and in a swift motion he delivered a powerful PK Thunder.

At this moment half of the refugees were watching the confrontation. Some wanted to help but Wes and Lighter were wisely blocking the exit knowing very well that Lucas and the other could handle it by themselves.

The shark backed up at the same time that he was dodging blows from the heroes. It glanced to the sky and with a blink of its robotic red eyes, bullets shot from his back and started raining in the battlefield. Kumatora, Lucas and Claus evaded them all except for Duster that got hit by a couple of them.

Lucas and Kumatora growled at the same time and after a quick nod she raised her hands and launched a PK Freeze gamma level at the creature. It sidestepped the snowflake easily but didn't expect to meet Lucas with a PK Love beta that easily nailed the shark. Claus thought fast and added his own PK Love finally knocking out the shark and left it nearly dead.

When the danger seemed over Ligther got off the door, while Wes went to examine his son, who was still bleeding and barely conscious, "We should take him to the hospital," Lighter suggested.

"That's impossible under this weather. Lucas, Kumatora could you help?" Wess asked. Normally he's not the type of person to care a lot, but this time it was Duster and despite how he treated him sometime, he was still his son.

"Sure," Kumatora muttered and immediately kneeled down to Duster's side.

"What was that…?" Lucas said as he approached the creature along Claus.

"I don't know but it is still alive. We must decide what to do with it,"

"I am unsure, it would not be safe to just let it go, but it doesn't deserve death. It is a chimera…"

"Which means it is just a victim," Claus finished his brother words.

"Why don't we take it to Andonuts, he must have an idea of what we can do with it," Kumatora said in her own business but still listening to the twin's conversation.

"That's a good idea Kuma, we can do it tomorrow."

"No, I will need you, I want to try something. Before leaving us, Ionia told me how to communicate with her but I'll you need you guys power, then we can take care of the chimera."

"Claus, Lucas!" A very worried Hinawa shouted exiting the castle and running towards her sons "Are you okay?"

"We are okay, just a couple of scratches nothing to worry about," Claus said.

"Wait, and dad?"

"Surprisingly all the noise didn't even disturb his sleep," Hinawa giggled.

"Haha, that's good. Hmmm, we should already get inside, my feet hurts and tomorrow will be a long day," Claus suggested, starting to walk inside the castle.

"Yeah it was not the best idea to fight with bare feet."


	3. The Eight Needle

At the next day Lucas woke up with Claus' yawn–which was by no means quiet.

"Claus, turn down the volume, you will wake someone. Besides me…" Lucas groaned.

"What are you talking about, have you seen how late it is," Claus replied.

Lucas rotated his head only to see that Claus was right. The clock read 1:20 pm. What was wrong with him, 1:20! He never got up later than 11 am, but that didn't matter now. He rubbed his eyes and slowly rose up from the sleeping bag. Most people had already left, except for some nice persons that stayed to help and clean the disorder from both the chimera outside and the people indoors.

"Hey Claus, where's mom and dad?"

"I'm sure dad is helping in the town, remember the flood."

_But mom?_ Lucas' stomach growled, he decided to go to the castle's kitchen where the food was never scarce. "I'm going to the kitchen, I'll bring you something." Lucas knocked on the bathroom door, Claus responded with an "hmph". Lucas dashed downstairs where the kitchen was.

When he got close enough a familiar scent could be smelled. Omelets? He then entered and found no other than his sweet mom greeting him with a smile and a frying pan.

"You're finally up," Hinawa said.

"Yeah…"

"Where is your brother, the breakfast is almost ready?"

"He's in the bathroom. Uh, what are you doing here? I thought you didn't know the place, you can get lost."

Hinawa laughed. "Oh dear it's okay. Your friend–the one with pink hair–was walking around the main hall complaining that there was not food left in the 'never food-less fridge' so I offered to cook for her. A couple hours later you're here asking why I'm here.

When she finished with the breakfast, Lucas returned to his room where Claus just exited from the bathroom. He put down the two dishes over their sleeping bags and started eating. When they were done, each one got their clothes and exited the castle to find something that made a chill go down Lucas' spine.

"Where is the chimera!" He cried.

Claus was also sharing his brother confusion.

"You mean the strange animal of last night?" One of the people around asked.

"Yeah, have you seen it?"

"Uh, the pink haired girl and Duster took it with them," the person answered with indifference.

"Thanks." The person nodded and got back to what he was doing

"At least we know it didn't escape. But where they said they would take it? I can't remember," Lucas said turning to his brother searching for an answer but the only response he got was Claus' clueless gaze.

"They said something about a doctor… Donuts it was?" Said a voice behind both of them. It made Claus jump in surprise and took a fighting stance. Lucas didn't move at all, he already knew what it was–a simple ghost.

Claus brought a hand to his chest, "Wow, please don't do that again."

"Did you say donuts?" Lucas asked.

"I think he meant Andonuts," Claus suggested regaining his breath.

"Y-yeah exactly, A-andonuts," the ghost mumbled and stumbled in his hovering… he was clearly drunk. How? Nobody knows.

"Uh, okay thanks," Claus said, still realizing that he just talked to a ghost with a party hat. "Geez, it looks like that ghost was in a crazy party."

The twins started walking. Their destiny: the chimera lab. In the way the damage of last night storm could be seen: most of the town flooded, some buildings were lacking the doors, window and even the walls.

Around two hours later (thanks to the lack of a working train) the building was on sight. Lucas decided to knock the door a couple of times until a familiar person opened the door.

"Dr. Andonuts!" Lucas exclaimed, he was happy to see a person that helped him and his friends some time ago and he was also a pretty reliable friend.

"Hey Lucas, and C-claus," The doctor said hesitating if the latter one was some kind of ghost. It was obvious he wasn't one, though, how stupid. "What brings you here?"

"Kumatora, did she come earlier today… along with a chimera?"

"Oh, yeah, very sad what was done to that creature. Come in."

They started traveling through the hallways into a lot of rooms. Claus was speechless, and perhaps this was the place where his robotic side was born along with what could be easily called… monsters.

Dr. Andonuts halted in front of a door, before the main surgery room, he pointed in a direction and told the twins that there was Kumatora.

"Lucas, wow, you finally woke up. Did the princess sleep well?" She mocked him.

"Pretty funny, but what was funnier, was you, leaving with the chimera. What if it attacked you! Please be more careful," Lucas said not really caring about Kumatora's words.

"Don't worry," She said utterly relaxed. "I had everything handled. Now, I need you two come with me, we are paying a visit to Ionia." The happiness on her voice could be noticed when she uttered the Magypsie's name. After all, Ionia was the closest she had to a mother… or father. Both of them.

"Dr., we're leaving, thanks for the help and good luck with it," Kumatora said poking his head through the small circular window in the surgery room; she referred to the chimera.

"Hey, but what happened with the chimera?" Claus asked as they exited the room to get into the main lab's hallway and finally get out and head to Ionia's shell house.

"Well, it looks more complex than the chimeras Andonuts used to create. He said he was going to do everything in his hands to recover that poor animal's old live."

The trio was now heading to Ionia's shellhouse. It wasn't that long of a walk if you knew shortcuts.

Once they got to there, Lucas was the first to try and open the door. It was locked.

"What? Locked!" He exclaimed, seeing this complete trip as a waste of time. "We won't be able to do nothing. Knowing the Magypsies they surely put some kind of unlockable lock."

"Are you done whimpering?" Kumatora said.

She searched in her pocket and took out a butterfly-shaped key. After opening the door, Kumatora commanded the twins to sit along her in the center of the house. They held each other hands, and hushed. The minutes passed with no response, until a flow of energy went through their minds.

"Hello?" Kumatora asked.

"Kumatora? Dear, finally you decided to communicate with us, 3" Ionia said. She was clearly cheerful of hearing another voice besides her siblings'.

"Ionia! I know, I delayed a little, but I just meet Lucas yesterday, and you told I was going to need more power than I have to do this, so I also brought his brother. Do you remember the first person you taught PK Love? He looked practically the same as Lucas," Kumatora said

"I'm unsure…" Claus rolled his eyes in annoyance, how could she forgot him; she called him carrot head and started asking if his hair was natural.

"Umm, he had orange hair."

"Oh, I remember, how I could forget him, sorry dear, 3" Ionia said.

"I don't want to disturb this reunion, but I thought you had something important to say Kumatora," Lucas spoke up.

Kumatora sighed at Lucas seriousness. He was right, though, the strange event of the last day was something that needed explanation.

"Okay, yesterday a storm struck in the whole islands, it was very strong and, well I've never seen something like that happening in all the time I've lived here. It is just a coincidence because the Earth is now back as it was before or it's something we should worry about?"

"Really, did Locria didn't tell yo- Oh right, 3" Ionia sighed remembering the other façade of the last Magypsy.

"Locria?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah, you don't remember? Fassad, he was the seventh Magypsy," Kumatora reminded the blond.

"Oh sure, what's with him?"

"Locria was supposed to tell you about another Needle…"

"What! Another Needle?" Lucas, Kumatora and Claus exclaimed, albeit Claus really didn't know the magnitude of this.

"Exactly, as I was saying, there's another Needle-"

"Another Needle!" Claus exclaimed, this time joking, though this time he gained glares from Kumatora and Lucas; also from the 'other side' Lonia could be heard sighing.

"There's another Needle, this one arises after the Dark Dragon returns to its spot in the islands. The function of this Needle is to give the extra power that is needed to safely seal the Dragon. Supposedly the last Magypsie, Locria, should have told you about this, but obviously that was impossible. Pulling this last Needle will need twice the energy from the others, which is why I'm glad that you're back, Claus, 3" she explained.

"Wait, another Needle means another Magypsie right?" Kumatora asked. Could still be another Magypsie. Another person that would easily understand her loneliness and remind her of the kind people that raised her.

"Yes Kuma, and I'm sure you two will get along pretty well."

Claus was done with his jokes and decided to inquire something that no one had asked yet, "And… what could happen if we don't pull that Needle?"

"You've already presence it," Locria said, certain of her words. "that storm that struck Tazmily I think was only the start of the Dragon recovering. That means if you don't hurry more disasters will happen and not only here but in the whole world, 3"

The three psychics stopped for a second, now they were in a race against time (again). There was still one more mystery left unsolved so far. "One more question, where it is?" Lucas asked, expecting to end the conversation soon–he was starting to fell exhausted.

"It used to be in a small piece of land in the ocean but now that the world is reset, it's located in the land across the sea, you may start searching by there. 3"

The connection was starting to fade… "I think we should go already," Kumatora sighed.

"It's ok Kuma we can talk any other day. By the way, it was a pleasure to talking to you Lucas and Claus, 3" Ionia said preparing to let go the link.

"Thanks!" Both twins said. "It was nice to talk to you again Ionia,"

"Take care…" Ionia and Kumatora said at the same time before the connection disappeared entirely.

After saying their goodbyes, Kumatora dropped the twins in front of their house. The difficult part was coming: telling their parents the situation.

The best moment for what was going to be a long chat was the dinner. Lucas spoke up and began explaining: the recent news about the Eight Needle, the future that was waiting for them if they didn't do anything, but their parents remained speechless.

Was the right thing to let them go?

"I don't know, Lucas, Claus, it seems dangerous…" Flint said.

"Dad, I hate to sound like this but there is no option, we will go," Claus replied.

"Flint, they're right there is no option," Hinawa said in a convincing tone Flint knew too well.

"I know… wait I should go with you. I won't let you alone again,"

"B-but you can't do that. You saw the tremendous chaos that that storm caused, the town needs you and, more important, mom needs you," Lucas said. Flint didn't want to listen but his son was right after all.

Flint sighed. "Okay, I guess you are already strong enough to do this by yourselves,"

"I'm with your dad, your determination is endless, you will succeed in this," Hinawa gave them a thumbs up.

"Now, you should go to sleep, you will have a long day tomorrow,"

"But dad, it is just eight," Claus whimpered. However…

"Claus, we should obey them, they can still change their mind," Lucas whispered.

"Exactly," Flint said with a smirk.

Claus and Lucas were already prepared to sleep, each one in their beds, until a certain dog that haven't show his face for the whole day entered in the room barking.

"I heard you were leaving. You're taking me with you right?" Boney looked at them and the message was communicated in the twins' minds.

"Sorry Boney. If you did listen, you must stay as well for any emergency and take care of mom and dad. But trust me if we need your help, which I'm sure we'll need it at some time, I will come for you," Lucas said, brightening the brown dog eyes.

Claus wasn't still used to talk to his dog and vice versa, so he found it funny. He decided to give it a shot and talk to Boney…

"And you," Boney barked pointing his small paw's pads at him, "still owe me a steak. I haven't forget it." Claus laughed while Lucas searched in his memories for the reason behind those words.

There was one more thing left to do for Boney. He climbed each twins' beds and lick their face in signal of real loyalty.

"Good luck. We'll miss you two."

"Same," Lucas and Claus said. Lucas got up from his bed and joined the dog and his brother, which were in Claus' bed. All three gave each other a funny human-dog-human hug.


	4. First steps in Eagleland

"Wake up Lucas, Kumatora it's here."

"Uhh, what?" Lucas said with his eyes still closed.  
>"Kumatora it's here, he-re," Claus repeated the last part.<p>

"Oh, sorry Claus, let me get ready, you entertain Kuma while I get a shower." Lucas said getting up from his bed, and picking his yesterday clothes that were on the floor.

"But Lucas, please don't take your usual fifteen minutes shower," Claus said

Lucas faked he didn't hear that and got into the bathroom. Claus strode downstairs to the small living room to meet once again the pink haired "Hey, again," Claus greeted taking a seat on the sofa where Kumatora was.

"And Lucas?" She asked.

"In the shower, he's going to take sometime up there, while he combs his hair, get his clothes and all that stuff that he does,"

" It's okay, I'm already more than used to that," Kumatora then asked "So are you ready for leaving?"

"Yeah, just need to say goodbye to my parents and I'm ready to go." The red haired said exited and sad at the same time, the idea of leaving his parents again was bothering him, but there was not time for regretting "You already know where we are going?"

"Well...as you remember Ionia told us that the place where the Needle is, is not to far from the coast, so we can take boat to get there, there are some departures in the next hour,"

"Good..." Claus sighed "You know, even though I want to help to save the World, the thought of being away from my parents again is bugging me,"

"You should not worry," Kumatora said turning to Claus "Everything will be okay, you have the great Kumatora on your side, we'll end this as soon as we can,"

"T-Thanks Kumatora, t-that's really inspiring. I think I'll go and see if Lucas is done already," With that Claus dashed off upstairs to Lucas and his room

"Hey bro, ready?"

"Sure Claus."

The twins exited from their room prepared for the journey, but before leaving they entered their parent's room to say their goodbyes before leaving."Dad, mom we're leaving," Lucas whispered trying to wake them up gently.

Flint and Hinawa quickly reacted to their sons' voice; they got up and asked them if they wanted something to breakfast before leaving, Claus nor Lucas didn't want to accept due to their limited time, but there was no choice, after all they were going to be far from home for a long time.

"We'll miss you a lot, please take care of each other." Flint said

"Don't worry, we will be-" Claus got interrupted by his mom hugging him, then she did the same with Lucas, Flint as always just gave them a little pat in the back at each one and with that the two PSI users left the room leaving their parents without the desire of sleeping, just thinking about their twins.

When Kumatora saw the twins ready for leaving she got up from the couch joining them then exiting the house. They walked for some minutes until they arrived to the shore where the boats departed.

"Wait we forgot Duster." said a worry Lucas realizing that after walking without him.

"He told me, he was going to wait for us around here." Kumatora and the twins started looking around for Duster until he eventually appeared.

"Finally, I thought you forgot me or something." Duster greeted.

"So you discovered where are we going Dust?" Kumatora asked.

"Yep, to a place called Eagleland." Duster replied as everyone was boarding the boat that was departing to said place.

Some minutes later the whole party was in the boat enjoying light breeze until Kumatora started complaining."You know what guys," She started raising her fist in the air "This is nonsense, we are going to save the world again, but to do so, we have to pay for a little ride across the sea,"

"Well Kumatora, I don't think that your plan would have worked anyways," Duster replied.

"What plan?" Asked Lucas and Claus.

"Last night when I left, I went to Duster's, and suggest him to stole the boat earlier so we didn't have to pay, but even when he's a ninja thief he said it was to risky,"

"Kuma, you know Duster is right, besides we don't know how to operate this thing." Lucas said.

"Come on Lucas, it can't be that hard." Kumatora told Lucas waving his arms.

"You remember the last time you said that?"  
>Lucas and Duster started laughing while Claus looked at them confused.<p>

"What happened?" He asked.

"When the cars arrived to Tazmily, we came across Bronson who at that time was one of the first residents to have a car, that day he showed us how the car worked, when he finished Kumatora asked if she could try and drive it, Bronson wasn't completely sure but still let her and she said-" Lucas stopped expecting to Duster to finish the sentence.

"Come on guys, it can't be that hard, some minutes later she crashed," now Claus, Duster and Lucas were all laughing, Kumatora started blushing a little, she couldn't stand this, she delivered a weak PSI wave against the guys, this made them fell into the ocean and now she started laughing.

Despite their little childish discussion, the short trip was fun, but now they were in their destiny, it was time to start working, check the strategy and create a plan.

"Here we are, Eagleland." Lucas said looking to his surroundings, there was not much where they were, the shore and the opposite side a highway that surely lead to the city, adjacent to the highway there was a huge forest.

"Now, where do we start?" Claus asked to the whole group.

"Well, I don't know you guys, but that chimera yesterday startled me, so I suggest getting into the nearest city through this forest." Kumatora said.

The city wasn't too far but neither near, there were two options, the main road that headed to the city and a forest that covered each side of the road, the group thought for a minute the best option, they finally opted for the forest.

"Guys, I don't have a good feeling about this, we don't know how big this place is." Lucas said some minutes later after entering the forest.

"You worry too much Lucas, relax and listen to the nature." Kumatora replied to the blond.

Everything was going well, Lucas managed to relax and even when they got a mission, they were enjoying the 'excursion'.

"See Lucas everything is going well so-" Kumatora trailed off when she felt something in her hindhead.

"Sorry for interrupting." A male young voice was heard behind the group "Now tell me, who are you? And what are you doing here?" The voice said with a hand in Kumatora's hindhead

Kumatora turned around, shoving the boy's hand off of her face, now everyone was looking at the boy, he was sporting a red baseball cap, a yellow and blue striped shirt, shorts, long socks and red shoes, it looked kind of similar like Lucas attire. The boy didn't look happy nor friendly.

"It's not of your business!" Kumatora shouted in the boy's face.

"Oh, of course it is!" He returned Kumatora's gesture.  
>"Look, I'm not fool, I know this is not a coincidence, a lot of crazy PSI users and weird animals have been looking for something in my city surroundings, and if you're wondering, yes I know your physics too." Everyone was shocked of hearing this, another PSI user.<br>"And if you want to leave this place alive you must answer my questions."

"You look to confident," Kumatora said

"This sound like a challenge," He said

The twins and Duster rolled their eyes, why Kumatora had to threaten every person.

"Please we don't want to fight, we came for-" Lucas started but he got interrupted by Kumatora's hand covering his mouth.

"He doesn't need to know anything Lucas, now can I know your name so I can kick your butt better?"

"Ness," He responded still confident of whatever could happen.

"Okay thanks Ness, we don't give a damn of who you are and we don't have the time to useless stuff like you, so you get out of my way or..."

"Or what?" Another person appeared from behind a tree, along with two more, one girl and two boys.

"Or we'll do it our way." Kumatora challenged, Lucas and Duster sighed whilst Claus was aside Kumatora supporting her words.

"Now this is even." Ness said, now his 3 friends joining him.

"Bring it!" Claus yelled at them.

Everyone separated as if it were planned, first a blonde guy with glasses and a green suit which have a nametag that read 'Jeff' stood in front of Duster, apparently he didn't have PSI either.

Albeit Kumatora's goal was to attack Ness, a blonde girl in a pink dress blocked her way.  
>"Look at this, a cute doll is lost." Kumatora taunted<p>

"Sorry dear, but I'm not a doll, my name is Paula and you shouldn't be so confident." Paula said

Claus took out his thunder sword, he and Lucas were going to rush toward Ness but someone knocked Claus down.  
>"Are you okay?" Lucas asked<p>

"Yeah, you take care of Ness, this idiot is mine." Claus said getting up from the ground staring at the person who attacked him from behind "Nice attire."  
>The attacker was wearing a white karate like tunic, with an unusual pony tail haircut.<p>

"Silly joke, but what make me laugh is your little toy, that Star Wars' sword it's really cool, can I have one?"  
>"I'm really polite, so before you ask, I'm Poo," Poo said<p>

"Ok, Poop, bring it."

Finally in Lucas and Ness' side of the battle, Ness rushed while Lucas was distracted watching who attacked his brother, Ness grabbed him and tossed him with a big amount of PSI against a tree, Lucas was quick to react and used his weight and PSI to evade the tree and land in the ground safely.  
>"That was just a warning vanilla ice cream head, will you surrender?" Ness asked<p>

"This already started, sorry, but I can't." Lucas responded, he proceeded to use his PK Love to bring down a tree and with PSI he threw it at Ness.

"Not bad son!" Ness shouted.  
>He evaded the tree and started running towards Lucas with his hands charged with PSI.<br>"PK Whip!" Lucas shouted, a whip of sheer PSI came out from his hand and pinned Ness down, then the blond pulled back his hand in order to bring Ness at him with a incredible speed.  
>"PK Love!" The Lucas shouted.<br>Ness seemed terrified of looking how the white power was getting nearer each instant.  
>" PSI Magnet," The red cap boy said including a silent PSI paralysis as well, with this, he stopped Lucas and then absorbed the energy that the blond was charging, Ness rolled backwards and taking advantage of Lucas momentarily paralysis and did a roundhouse kick at the blonde's face.<br>Lucas rubbed his face in pain; he opted for a quick PSI Healing to reduce the pain and a couple scratches when he hit the ground.

Ness launched another paralysis attack, however this time Lucas sidestepped the ball of yellow energy, when he brought his attention back to Ness, the red-capped was in front of him.  
>"PK Rockin'!"<p>

Duster wasn't doing well either, Jeff was keeping a good distance between them, Jeff shot his bazooka which Duster rolled aside to evade it, he threw a couple of smoke bombs between them and entered into the smokescreen, Jeff stepped backwards to dodge any attack from Duster, but the thief was too fast, using staples to pin Jeff down in the ground, he jumped off of the smokescreen and delivered a hammer punch in Jeff's stomach before breaking free.

* * *

><p>Jeff was trying to catch his breath, Duster grabbed him with the rope snake and tossed him high then jumped to deliver a strong punch at him but Jeff used his weight to get out of Duster's aim, he took out his Gaia beam and shot, Duster wasn't able to dodge it completely so the beam grazed his 'good' leg making him lost balance.<p>

Jeff reloaded his heavy bazooka, aimed at Duster and shot, it didn't hit Duster but the ground, making it shatter and shake, Duster got flung into a tree.

"Show me what you can do!" Kumatora taunted showing the tongue.

"Oh, I'll," Paula responded

Almost instantly Paula and Kumatora rushed against each other, "PK Fire!" They both shouted, delivering a huge flame at the other, the attacks collided creating a phoenix of fire between them.  
>"PK Ground!" Kumatora said, she rested her hand in the ground and spikes started coming out of it towards Paula, the blonde girl sidestepped the attack, then she brushed off some dirt of her dress.<p>

"Cute." Paula said "PK Freeze!"

A snowflake flew against Kumatora, when it was near enough Paula released it, rather than trying to hit Kumatora, the snowflake exploded in front of her and sharp chunks of ice flew against her and knocked her to the ground.  
>Kumatora got up quickly trying to hide her pain, her face was covered with blood and scratches.<p>

"Oh sorry, I ruined your makeup." Paula said sarcastically

"Makeup? I don't need that thrash," Kumatora smirked preparing her next attack.

"PK Thunder!" Kumatora shouted, a group of powerful thunders started raining from the sky.  
>Paula used her PSI shield to reduce the attack, but a shield in this case would be weak against the thunder attack, the blonde girl ended in the ground.<br>"You're irritating me! PK Plant!" Paula cried out then stumbled on her feet. She planted her hand on a near tree, suddenly vines came out from the ground surrounding Kumatora, the vines trapped her then started whipping Kumatora's body with the spikes, dealing the major damage.

* * *

><p>Poo and Claus were having a swordfight, each times their swords collided a thunderlighting came out from both swords, Claus took advantage of a failed Poo's stab and hit him with the handle of the thunder sword, it clearly delivered a great deal of damage, Claus blasted Poo with a point blank PK Thunder, but Poo managed to block it and deflect it back using the bracer of kings, Claus got distracted for a second trying to dodge his own thunder, when he turned back to Poo, he got hit by a PK Freeze beta level, it let Claus weakened, he staggered forward just to get hit by a strong punch from Poo.

Poo rushed towards Claus with his sword in a horizontal stab position, Claus reacted at the last moment rolling to one side but still the sword managed to cut him a big slash in his right arm.

"Damn," Claus muttered between breaths.

"Sorry pal, it ends here." Poo said, he raised his sword and brought it down.

Claus gathered all of his energy in his left hand and used an instantaneous PK Love beta to block the sword the collision made both swordsmen flung to opposite sides, Claus crashing with a tree and Poo landing hard into the ground.

Claus was trying to get up but his body wasn't helping that much, Poo was also weakened but he could get up, he didn't have too much energy to continue with a close combat, then Poo decided to let Claus feel his most devastating power.

"PK Starstorm!" Poo yelled.


	5. Getting to know them

"You're irritating me! PK Plant" Paula cried, she planted her hand on a near tree, suddenly vines came out from the ground surrounding Kumatora, the vines trapped her then started whipping Kumatora's body with the spikes, dealing the major damage.

Kumatora needed to stop the vines from restraining her it was only giving free time to Paula, she used PK Ground to destroy the vines around her and then fell to the ground.

"Such a pathetic girl are you." Paula said preparing a PK Thunder in her hand.

Kumatora ignored Paula's words, "PK Fire." She shouted, a tiny flame came out from her hand, and it started getting bigger and bigger until a wave of flames rushed against Paula, the blonde girl didn't have time to defend herself properly just raising a PSI shield in a swift move which lowered the flames but didn't stop them, when the flame wall, reached Paula it sent her flying against a tree, then fainted.

The pink haired fell in his knees and after a couple of seconds to recover her breath she ran to Duster's side of the battle, at that moment Duster was trying to get up after the bazooka shot flung him on a tree, Jeff took out his death beam at shot at Duster, at the last moment Kumatora appeared to push Duster from the beam and dodge it, she started recharging a PK Thunder, however Jeff shot his Slime generator to pin down Kumatora, she got distracted and Jeff rushed towards her using his Counter PSI unit to cancel her attack and punch her in the face with surprising knockback even for Jeff.

Jeff gave some steps backwards to reload his bazooka then he aimed at Duster who was badly bruised and damaged, but Kumatora got up quickly and with a flying kick sent flying his weapon, Jeff flinched at Kumatora took advantage of this to strike the blond with a fist with electricity,

Kumatora stared at the kid now on the ground almost motionless as questioning if she should kill him or not, some seconds passed and she turned back to Duster and helped him.

"PK Rockin!"

Lucas didn't have too much options to defend himself, he gathered PSI energy in his hands and crossed them in front of his face as trying to defend himself, although this protect him, it didn't stopped the attack.

Ness' attack blew him away through the ground, the red cap boy started walking toward the now fallen Lucas who was having a hard time creating a plan.

"PK Flash!" The blond shouted, a light covered a big part of the forest, then he used his 'ninja' skills that have learned from Duster to sneak up from behind Ness, when the light died down Ness noticed the lack of Lucas presence however he sensed the blond behind him, crouched instinctively turned around and blasted another instantaneous PK Rockin in Lucas' stomach, the blond psychic went flying against a tree but he looked determined, he ignored the pain and got up without problem.

Duster and Kumatora were already getting near to Lucas and Ness' side of the battle, the pink haired used PK Ground from the distance aiming exactly were Ness was standing, spikes started coming out from the ground towards Ness, however he reacted swiftly and sidestepped and blocked each one of them causing him to get exhausted quicker, he didn't hesitate, he knew 3 vs 1 would have been a great disadvantage, he focused his PSI and launched a giant invisible wave of sheer energy making Kumatora and Duster fall back some meters and fall.

Lucas was already in the run towards Ness with his hand charged in massively amounts of PSI, when Ness turned back to Lucas, his chest met with Lucas' fist blowing him away towards Kumatora's direction, landing almost unconscious.

Lucas waved her in signal to restrain him.

He saw his brother in the ground then looked up to the sky to see a flurry of flaming stars falling in his brother's direction, he started running.

"Claus, Claus! Watch out!"

Claus opened his eyes to see the meteors falling in his direction, he tried to move but there was no case, his body was to exhausted after the last attack, he started striking several meteors with his PK Thunder but it seemed to never end, this gave Lucas the time to reach his brother then raised the most powerful PSI shield his body allowed him, he was trapped below the stars rain, some seconds later the attack ceased revealing a almost fainted Poo gasping because of the massive amount of power he used, Lucas and Claus were on the ground staring at Poo and Poo at them, suddenly and for Poo's surprise Claus and Lucas started smiling, it was Kumatora with her PSI paralysis ready to strike into Poo's body, he returned the smile jumping backwards and landing behind Kumatora then punching her sending her to the ground, Duster appeared from above the trees landing a kick into Poo's chin, he rolled backwards and started waving his sword for fail stabs, Duster used the rope snake to grab Poo's hip then delivered a uppercut which sent his sword flying giving the chance to a close combat.

Poo opened the fight with a powerful punch into Duster's defense, it was his turn he gave him a low kick making Poo fall, Duster took advantage of this, he used his staples to slash his chest and then finish him with a roundhouse sending him to Kumatora's feet, she just used her PSI paralysis and then Duster slept him.

Lucas got up along with Claus thanking Kumatora and Duster for their help, Lucas started walking towards the pinned down Ness, grabbed him by his collar, "Now you see, we didn't kill you, we're not your enemy!," he said in an upset tone, Ness' rude stare slightly changed into an i-understand look.

"Let us explain why we are really here, then you can explain your part and we will be all happy, I don't know maybe even team up." After the mention of this Lucas' friend and Claus groaned.

Ness sighed "Okay, you're right, hell, you are good with the words." Lucas smiled at him

Ness and Lucas' groups were all gathered around a campfire, they decided to camp because it was already really late to cross the huge forest that Lucas and co. thought was a little one, everyone was healed and although they looked a little irritated because of their half enemies company they still somehow enjoyed it.

"So, now please explain us what is happening." Ness said looking at Lucas with a tired look

Lucas started with a summarized version of the 7 Needles history then explained their objective in Eagleland.

"So after using the Dark Dragon's powers to recreate our lives, we discovered that it had to be sealed after use,"

"And in the course of a month our island suffered a couple of… how is called… oh yeah, natural disasters, it seemed a little odd for us because that never happened but the time the Dragon was released, we talk with one of this Magypsies I told you about and he- well she- well whatever it is told us about another Needle, that was resting here, but that was before Eagleland was here, so after everything was brought back to live, the Needle appeared here, now I and my brother, Claus." Lucas pointed at Claus who nodded.

"Have to pull this last one to let the Dragon resting until it's needed again, " "I guess that's the shortest version of the history." Lucas breathed deeply realizing how much he have said.

Ness and Paula looked confused, Poo was trying to fake that he understood and Jeff just nodded.

"Okay…" Ness said

"Is that all? We waste like half an hour explaining you what happened and you just said okay?" Kumatora said in an irritated voice

"Well, it's not like we comprehended every single detail, but we got at least the idea and the important stuff." Paula said

"Ok, we told you what are we doing here, now it's your turn, what have you seen out of place lately?" Claus asked giving a bite to a sandwich he packed earlier.

Jeff decided to speak for the first time since they started camping, "We have seen lately a lot of people that they called themselves pigmasks and rarely we see this like muted animals, they call them chimeras or something like that, they have killed a lot of innocent people because they obviously don't know where is the Needle you're talking about, we have tried to stop them but they seem endless."

"The pigmasks, again it can't be Pokey, who is behind this?" Lucas thought, neither of them could talk after the news that the pigmasks have returned.

"This is gonna be harder than we thought." Duster sighed

"Yeah…" They all three responded at the same time.

Ness in the other side turned to their friend with a we-should-help-them-please look, Paula and Jeff looked undecided and Poo remained with his serious look.

Soon Ness, Paula and Jeff formed a circle around Poo and started discussing,

"We should help them." Ness started

"Can we trust in them, one hundred percent?" Paula asked

"I don't know, but I'm sure they're just like us." Ness replied

"You know, Ness is right we should join them, we don't now what could happen if they don't achieve their goal." Finally Poo opened his mouth

"He's right, okay I'm in." Jeff placed his hand in the center of the circle, then Ness, Paula and at the end Poo, then they separated to their previous positions.

"What you think if we join you?" Ness said

"Excellent!" Lucas and Duster spoke at the same time, Claus nodded with a smile and Kumatora huffed and then nodded to.

After that, they decided to clear their minds from everything and started talking about who they are, where they come from, what they do etc.

Lucas and Claus told them who they were, where do they lived and some more miscellaneous stuff, Kumatora explained them that she was an important and all powerful being that if they (Ness and co.) failed to them or betray them would meet the real pain and Duster just talked about how much his father trained him, his 'everyone wants to know' limp leg.

Same in the other side, Ness talked about how much he loved baseball, play around with the PSI and of course play videogames, Paula explained how much she loved teddy bears, pink color, ponies, cooking (although she cooks pretty bad in Ness' opinion), Jeff told them about how he met Ness and co. were he used to study before going into the adventure and mentioned his other best friend Tony and finally Poo briefly talked about his land, how he was a prince and how much better swordman was than Claus which make Claus growl loudly and gain weird looks.

"What if have a horror storytelling." Ness said with the fire's light in his face

"Sure." Everyone agreed

"I want to start." Lucas raised a hand and gave a playful mischievous look.

"Ok, go on." Paula said

Kumatora and Duster turned at each other and sighed, they have already had a horror storytelling some months ago and Lucas' 'horror' tale was more like a teddy bears' tea party.

When Lucas ended everyone tried to look terrified but they were more focused on holding their laugh, at least Lucas looked satisfied and now it was Ness' turn

"Wow, that was a good one, Lucas,"

"But now is my turn, hope you can handle it." Ness said then laughed

15 minutes is all he needed to let everyone shaking of fear, Lucas have fought monsters, confront his half machine brother and beaten a ageless childish person, he have of course grew up so much and got stronger… but now he was scarier than ever.

Everyone could freely say that something was wrong in Ness' mind as Claus' words said, the story was so interesting but at the same time make everyone shake uncontrollable. In the middle of the history anyone could continue listening it, Lucas had to go to sleep earlier in the middle of everything practically forcing Claus to go with him, and everyone else used the same excuse to avoid such twisted relate.

"Mmm, it's getting late I'm going to give Lucas some company." Claus said

"Me t-too,"

"Yeah I'm really tired too, g-good n-night." Those was everyone's excuses

"Chickens, well I guess I'm going to hit the hay too." Ness muttered


	6. Showdown in Dead Valley

It was around 10 in the morning and the whole group was starting to wake up, the firsts ones were Claus and Lucas, after yawning loudly and stretching along Lucas, Claus asked,

"We are already here Lucas, now where we are supposed to go?"

"Well, Ness must know something about this or at least he have heard something," Lucas replied

"I doubt he knows something, but we can ask Kumatora to try and communicate with one of the Magypsies and tell us."

"I don't think so the only one who knows about the Needle location must be Locria and the other Magypsie which I don't remember it's name." Lucas said scratching his head trying to remember the eight Magypsie name

"We'll see later,"

Now everyone awaken, with the only exception of Ness who was still enjoying his sleep until Claus decided to spread a whole bottle of water across his face to wake him up, and it did work, as soon as the water hit Ness, his eyes shot open with an out of place look.

"What the-"

"Why you did that," Ness exclaimed realizing that now his whole clothes and sleep bag were wet.

"You see, the whole world is near it's destruction…once again," Claus stammered the last part

"And we can't waste time while you dream in ponies and that.

"That wasn't necessary, you are just impatient," Ness' face turned into a smirk as he aimed his hand at all the water that was in the ground and splash it against Claus using PSI, obviously this only worsen everything.

Claus shot a glare at the smirking boy and pulled back his fist, fortunately before anything stupid, Duster and Lucas grabbed Claus and Ness also got grabbed by Poo.

After that little incident the whole group was now heading to what was going to be their temporally 'headquarters' Ness' house.

They took a shortcut and in a matter of minutes the house was at the sight, everyone stopped in front of the door waiting to Ness to open it, after the door was open everyone came in.

"Let me tell my mom that you are here guys, it will take a second,"

Everyone nodded and Ness strode to his mom room, everyone was sitting in the living room, some in the floor and the others in the coach, the time went on and Lucas decided to was explain some other details about the eight Needle, after 10 minutes passed Jeff decided to go and look for Ness, he found the red cap boy sitting in his room with the phone in hand, he looked stressed, Ness dialed something but after no response he smashed the phone in the floor breaking it.

"W-what's wrong?" Jeff stuttered knowing that when Ness is angry is better to talk slowly and calm

"This message," Ness said handing a paper to Jeff

"It said that this person have Tracy and my mom and he or she will be waiting for me along with that stupid Needle location but the problem is it have this telephone number I've been trying to call with but it don't work."

"Ness, this isn't a phone number this are coordinates," Jeff said examining the message carefully

"From?" Ness got up peering over his friend shoulder

"It looks like this is located in Twoson, no in Dead Valley."

"Thanks, now let's go," Ness said standing up heading to where everyone else was.

"Paula, Poo come on we are going to Dead Valley."

"And what about us, where are you going? " Claus asked a little confused about the sudden rush

"You can stay here, I have some family issues, I'll back in a couple hours," Ness responded

"Wait, why are we going here?" Paula asked not knowing why the sudden rush.

"My mom and Tracy, someone kidnapped them, they are in Dead Valley, we must go NOW," Ness was already in the door, ready to leave until.

"Wait, we are going too," Lucas uttered making everyone stop

"No, you can't sorry but I can't trust in you at all." Ness sighed

"Come on, we already let you live yesterday, that's enough confidence." Claus said supporting his twin

"Please, I'm sure we can help." That was Lucas last attempt

There were silence in the room, everyone was looking at Ness whom was thinking, in that moment something rushed in his mind, the location of that Needle thing, if someone could know about that must be Lucas.

"Okay, only because I don't have the time to argue with you," Lucas and friends got up from the couch and the floor but after giving a step forwards…

"But you do something that put us in danger, we won't hesitate attacking you."

Ness used his PSI Teleport to take everyone to the entrance of Dead Valley, they stood there, Lucas wondering why that name, but that didn't matter at the time, they all entered crossing the small cave between Twoson and the valley.

The started walking, Lucas' group couldn't help but to see how enormous this place was, Ness lead everyone to the core of the valley, it was now flatten, maybe because of the excessive rain from the last days thanks to the Dark Dragon.

"They should be around here," Ness said glancing at a huge cliff at the end of the floating section, where something black with a little purple was peering from the top.

Now everyone was staring at the cliff, that dark purplish thing was mystifying everyone.

Suddenly the thing behind the mountain began moving, the gang backed off a little, the thing which was a monster like creature got up from what looks like was in a sitting position, with a couple of steps the creature surpassed the now small looking cliff revealing itself to be no other than a darker version of Barrier Trio but combined, Lucas' party gaped at this while Ness' party was shocked to see such a giant creature coming out of nowhere.

"Finally, you are here, you took to much time when you have the power of teleporting," A person was sitting in the mere head of the Barrier Trio

"And it looks that you brought some friends too."

"And who the hell are you," Kumatora said having to tilt her head in an uncomfortable position to see the very top of Barrier Trio where the man was sitting.

"Well my name is Neyv assuming that's what you were waiting for," Neyv said shrugging

"Where is my mother?" Ness shouted with a raged tone

"Oh yeah, I almost forget about that, she is right there inside the cave," Neyv pointed to the exit of the valley

"But, if you are guessing I'll let you pass without the Needle location, we may have a little argument."

"Why you thing I have it!" Ness replied

Neyv smirked "I know you don't but she does," and pointed Kumatora

"What, I know nothing about that," Kumatora said

"Come on little princess I know exactly who you are and that you can communicate with every Magypsie and if you want your friend right there to have his mother back and safe, you better come with me." Neyv smirk turned into a glare

"W-why you want to know?" Lucas inquired

"There's no need for you to know that,"

"Anyway, so what are you going to do, come with me and save everyone here or I'll have to make you come with me."

"Trust me, no one is going with you," Claus shouted so Neyv could hear him from the top of Barrier Trio

"Everyone, when at my count we all attack, and I'll go for my mom and Tracy," Ness' friends nodded, also Lucas' though a bit confused of who was Tracy

"Now!"

Paula and Kumatora stepped in front of everyone and opened the battle with PK Starstorm with a great synchronization which Barrier simply dodged, in the meantime Ness raced off up to the end of the valley; seeing this, Claus decided to help Ness going faster with an almost forgotten PSI: PSI Speed which as the name said it helped increasing the speed noticeably.

Poo was already in the way to climb up the giant monster to reach Neyv however Barrier Trio started using it's PK Thunder to make Poo back up, Lucas rushed forwards, he halted in front of the monster's leg and blasted it with his attack however Barrier created a raw PSI blade to pierce through the attack.

Jeff assembled his bazooka and shooted against the monster's head, at this Neyv draw up a PSI shield and blocked the attack.

"Now it's my turn kids," Neyv said and Barrier started moving towards them.

Barrier stomped the ground creating shock waves which beat most of the group down.

From Neyv's hand a PK Freeze was being charged then he fired aiming at Paula, she put up a shield in front of her, both the shield and the attack cancelled each other out at contact, Barrier created another blade made of raw PSI and started swinging it around, it almost hit Poo but he blocked it with his own sword, the monster continued swinging his blade with great skill however everyone was keeping a good distance between it.

Duster threw several smoke bombs in front of Barrier clearly blocking most of Neyv sight, the two girls tried once again attacking the monster with another PK Starstorm, the noise made by the stars falling made everyone think that that was a direct hit, but when the smoke dissipated they encountered Neyv with his arm stretched out pointing at them with a lot of energy in it and Barrier mimicking his moves, the whole group separated the attack only reached Duster and Poo dealing major damage on their now unconscious bodies.

"Kumatora could you trap this thing with your PK Ground so I can attack it," Lucas said telepathically

Kumatora glanced at Lucas giving him a quick nod before neither of they could do something there were tendrils covering most of Barrier's body, they also saw Jeff shooting his Counter PSI Unit at a relatively short distance, the special bullet landed in the target but Barrier got one of his arm freed and slammed Jeff with it sending the blond flying until finally hitting a tree and falling unsconcious.

It was Kumatora's turn and with a powerful strike of her PK Ground attack the monster fell into the ground harshly.

Lucas knew it was their only opportunity, he started moving swiftly towards Barrier,

"PK Love gamma,"

Even though Neyv leaped out from Barrier's head at the last second, the attack successfully nailed the monster and got him knocked out.

At that time Claus and Ness were back after leaving Ness' mom and Tracy in a safer place in the entrance of the valley, when they saw the battlefield they could not help but gape at how much damage has been done.

"You have done pretty good work trying to beat me, however Barrier is only out of energy, in some minutes he'll be once again with us and I will be gone by that," Neyv said clapping in a sarcastically way.

Claus went for a sneak attack using his PK Speed to bring both Ness and him behind Neyv, once there Ness shouted "PK Rockin," to blast Neyv but he was faster and rolled to the side avoiding the whole attack.

He had his sight in Ness so Claus pulled out his sword and casted a PK Thunder at Neyv, he used some kind of PSI Counter to absorb the attack, he leaped forwards to decrease the distance between him and Claus and then used PSI to boost himself to finally return the PK Thunder with twice if not triplex of power, the attack landed and sent Claus rolling back a big distance.

Neyv then turned around not expecting a Ness' bat powerful strike, he followed Neyv's moves to not let him stand up and take advantage of his downed opponent to attempt another PK Rockin which this time landed and deal noticeable damage.

Neyv was angry, he glanced up to the sky to notice the dark clouds of storm gathering, he smirked and launched a couple of PK Thunder to make Ness back up, now Lucas, Kumatora and Paula joined him.

The roar of the thunders in the sky could be felt in the battlefield, Neyv swung his hand downwards and a blinding lighting met everyone's sight and a second later two thunders struck Paula and Kumatora, the only ones standing now were Lucas and Ness.

Ness opened the fight with a PK Flash that he released in front of Neyv, Lucas understood the plan and jumped using his PSI to then cast a PK Love beta into Neyv, which he sensed and sidestepped, when he recovered from the flash, he swung his hand once again but this time sidewards which caused the thunder to come down aiming at Ness but before landing it changed direction abruptly, Lucas had no choice than using a quick PK Love to cancel the thunder, it didn't work at all but still it weakened the thunder making minimum harm.

Ness rushed towards Neyv whom was just had released the thunder and uppercut him to then complement it with a powerful PK Rockin, this let Neyv in the ground trying to regain strength, Lucas was ready to finish him with a PK Love when a firestorm covered the whole battlefield, a last glance from Lucas before falling defeated revealed that it was from no other than Barrier Trio, Ness also fell not exactly in the best of the conditions.

Neyv rose up from the ground, brushing off the dirt from his white and black coat, he started walking towards Kumatora and using PSI he lifted Kumatora up to Barrier's head. "I told you, you were coming with me at some moment." Neyv smirked leaving the valley triumphantly accompanied by Barrier Trio.


	7. Reunions and Losses

It was a day later, after the Dead Valley's event in which Kumatora got kidnapped. Ness was still sleeping; Lucas and Claus were accompanying him in his room, waiting for Ness to wake up. Jeff, Poo, Paula and Duster were on the living room trying to come up with a plan.

"I can't believe he took Kumatora, we where so close to beat him…" Duster wailed.

"I know, but even with that monster out, he was still a formidable opponent," Paula said.

"We should stop wailing about that and think of something that can help us," Poo said from the other side of the room.

"Yeah, if we could find out a way to know where she is, everything would be easier," Jeff responded with a hand on his chin.

Everyone silenced, concentrating on their own thoughts until Paula broke the silence raising a hand. "Hey! You guys remember when the doctor took us to Gyigas,"

"Don't even say that name but yeah ,and what with that?"

"Remember he told us that he could find him thanks to the massive amounts of PSI, if he could found him in the past, he surely can help us now to find Kumatora if we search for her PSI energy," Paula explained. She indeed was right, but her idea was countered by another problem.

"It is a good idea…if we knew where he is," Poo pointed out.

Duster, who had been listening to the conversation was still clueless about who they were talking."And who is your dad Jeff?"

"He was a recognized scientist that have already helped us in the past with this sort of things,"

"Yeah, the Dr. Andonuts," Paula added.

"Wait, Andonuts? I think I know him,"

"What! But that's not possible!" Jeff was astounded, he thought his father dissapeared months ago, anyway he doubted that Duster referred to the Andonuts he knew.

"Yeah, we all know him, like you said, he have also helped us,"

"Hello everyone, what are you doing?" Lucas greeted the group in the living room, Claus was with him too.

"Well, we were talking about our next move and they told that Dr. Andonuts is Jeff's dad, who apparently was missing, and they think he can help us finding Kuma," Duster explained.

Claus frowned. "Andonuts your father, wow you don't look very alike,"

"So guys, will you be able to take us to my dad?" Jeff acquired, the joy in his voice was the same as the doubt in it.

"Of course we can," Lucas raised a fist in the air.

"But, he will be able to help us?" Claus asked taking a seat aside his brother and Duster.

"It may be a little complicated for you Clausy," An approaching voice said, it was Ness who was coming downstairs still rubbing his eyes. "Time ago, he had a machine that could detect PSI energy, one day the energy detected was so strong he decided to investigate where it was from, but without an answer he created another device to increase the machine's range, and well…the rest is history."

"That sound very clever, we can't trust him," Jeff whispered Paula who just rolled her eyes.

"Genius, your pointless speech didn't tell me a thing," Claus countered.

Paula sighed at the immatureness of Ness and her new friend. "Yes, Claus,"

"Thanks; see, that was indeed useful,"

Ness glared then started walking towards the orange haired psychic. "I'll show you how useful you aren't,"

"Could you two stop acting like that, we've more important things to do," After interrupting the two psychics argument Poo turned to Lucas. "Can you take us to Andonuts," Lucas nodded.

The group left the house and headed to the port to take the next boat to Nowhere Islands. Once in the boat Ness glanced at Lucas and asked. "This is where you come from?"

"Yes, the Nowhere Islands"

"It's funny, I didn't know this island exist,"

"Actually it's because-" Before he could finish the answer got cut by Duster. "Well Ness, that's why they call them the Nowhere Islands," he then turned to Lucas "They don't have to know everything; it will just generate more questions, okay?

Not much time later the gang arrived to their destiny. They didn't waste time to start their trip to Dr. Andonuts lab. They crossed the now city of Tazmily then took a train that didn't take to much to get them to the outskirts where the Dr. was established. The laboratory was in the sight, Paula, Ness and Jeff gasped, the place looked the same as in Winters. It was true after all, it's not like they didn't believe Duster but it was against the odds what he said.

Before Lucas could even open his mouth, the three teens ran off to the sliding doors to see the interior of the place. "This is a lot bigger than I expected,"

"Yeah…" Jeff said and prepared to go into one of the several doors in the lobby but Ness stopped him. "We should wait for the others we don't know this place." In that moment the twins and Duster entered. The latter motioned the three friends to follow him.

"Here it is, he must be around here,"

"I'll go and bring him, wait a second," Lucas said before entering in one of the several doors.

"Lucas, what it is, I'm a little busy in there," A voice was approaching the eager friends outside the sliding door. When the doors opened again they revealed Dr. Andonuts with Lucas at his side.

"Alright, now wha-"

"D-dad?" Jeff stuttered, Ness and Paula were frozen, after all, the hope of seeing Andonuts again were not too high. Jeff broke in tears as he and the scientist got into an embrace, Ness and Paula also joined them, whispering different words like "I missed you…" or "I can't believe this…".

After some minutes, Andonuts and the chosen remembered that they were not alone and let go each other, with the exception of the smart scientist who kept an arm around his son.

"Thanks…" Jeff said between tears.

The twins and Duster could only smile at him, there was nothing to thank, it was just a coincidence that they knew Andonuts, the least they could do was help a little. "Dr. we are more than happy that you are okay, we thought we had lose you," Ness said, with joy in his voice.

"Well Ness, I'm happy too,"

"But how you ended here?" Paula asked, at the same time the twins and Duster looked at each other.

"Sincerely I don't have the slightest idea; the last thing I remember was the Great Invasion and then I wound up here with most of my memories gone,"

"The Great Invasion?" Ness put a hand on his chin "That name sounds in the back of my head, but why?"

"I know, it seems familiar," Paula added.

However Jeff had something totally different to say after glancing at his dad. "Wow, you look a little different,"

"Yeah ha-ha, but you look pretty much the same after all these years,"

"Years?" Ness frowned "It have been no more than ten months, but years, you seem to have lost the sense of time in this place,"

"What, I'm serious, I don't know how much, but at least more than six/seven years,"

Ness, Paula and Jeff looked at each other with puzzled looks, wondering if they have been counting the time the wrong way for the last months. Although Andonuts indeed looked different hence gave a point to his words that have not been months only. However before the mystery could be uncovered for the heroes Duster reminded everyone about their actual mission in there.

"Ah sorry for interrupting like this but…we came here for something else," Andonuts tilted his head and gave off a curiosity look.

Ness huffed, not because he was in disagree with Duster but because he was right. "See Dr." Lucas started "We have an issue here; we bumped with a strange PSI user who first kidnapped Ness' mom and his sister only to draw us into a trap where he finally took Kumatora because he wanted info about that eight Needle," The Dr. Nodded meaning he have understood everything so far "Ness…"

The capped boy took Lucas word and continued "We need the mechanism that you used to detect that monster –you know who I'm talking about-, she is a psychic too so maybe you can detect her PSI energy to take us to her…please,"

"Quite a situation you got dragged in," The Dr. stopped for a second before giving off a smirk "that's a yes, but it will take sometime. In the meantime you should show them the place, your parents have been spreading the news that you got into the quest for the Needle so you should pay them a visit too."

"Okay great, thanks a lot Doc,"

"Wait, I will stay here," Jeff said then turned to his dad "you may need help,"

"Okay, good luck," Ness told to dad and son before leaving the room accompanied by Paula, the twins and Duster.

* * *

><p>"And this is the market," Lucas said pointing to where most Tazmily habitants preferred to do shopping. Lucas took Andonuts' suggestion and was showing to Paula, Ness and Poo the city, the place was not as huge as Onett but it still was worth the little stroll, after showing the chosen different parts like a hotel, the hospital, the main market where the arcade was too, but Paula and Duster had some problems in the latter one because after Ness showed how to play to Claus and Lucas no one wanted to leave. Around the afternoon when the city stroll was done, only one place to visit was left: the twins' house.<p>

They were walking through the path before his house, but at the moment they got the first glance of their house, the image struck the two young brothers. The roof of said house was ripped off, the beautiful garden her mom always took take of was burned, the wall where the door was, was completely demolished. "W-what…I c-can't believe t-his…" Both twins said before falling into their knees.


	8. A Frozen Paradise

"W-what happened here?" Duster asked to one in particular as he stared at the now destroyed dwelling, it was a horrible sight, the place where someone used to live, now demolished and burned down. Everyone was silent, the Eagleland's group was perplexed at what they were looking at, Duster could only wonder what Claus and Lucas were going through looking at these images. At last, the twins were not only horrified, but also were wondering where their parents could be. Who could have done this, and why?

Duster entered in the destroyed house, the twins, noticing this, took a seat at the ground with their legs crossed, hoping that their parents where not inside the wreck. Duster didn't need more than a couple minutes to inspect the mess; there was no one in there. He waved in the group's direction, "It's empty!"

Claus and Lucas sighed in relief. "Good…" Claus said. Though they had the knowledge that their parents were not there, the question still remained: Where they are?

"C'mon, let's see if we can find something useful," Ness said poking in both twins' arms. They nodded standing up then followed Ness inside the house.

"This is a disaster," Claus said having difficulty walking through the fallen wood. "There was no reason for someone to do this."

Paula and Poo were standing outside the house, "Y-you think that this has…" Paula spoke up catching Poo's attention, "…Never mind."

"What? Tell me," Poo responded.

She sighed, "If you think that this could have something to do with the reason that that person kidnapped Kumatora?"

"I don't know," Poo said, "It's possible, Lucas told us that he, along with Claus, are the only ones able to make something with those needles stuff."

"Nothing over here!" sighed Lucas after lifting another piece of wood.

"This is useless, there won't be anything of use in here," Claus said stomping his feet on the ground. "We need to search somewhere else."

"What about the town?" Duster spoke up bringing the twins and Ness' attention, "Maybe someone saw something, we should give it a shot."

"Good idea, let's go, we can't waste time," Ness said leaping out of the wreck.

"Yeah, Kumatora is waiting for us as well," Lucas' voice was determined.

They headed to the town, a name popped up on the twins' head: Thomas. He was the owner of the Tazmily's fire station, and thus he would be aware of any emergency that could have happened. It was not far from the market, a couple of blocks to the south and they found themselves in front of the fire station –where some police cars were-.

"It looks they are agitated," Ness said breaking the silence. Poo slightly nodded before following everyone else into the station.

The place was like any other fire station, in the outside was red. Several fire trucks were parked near it. The inside was simple as well, the lobby was the first room to be seen, with a desk as the reception in the center, to each side of it a flight of stairs, and adjacent to each flight a double door leading to another room.

"Claus, Lucas!" Someone shouted from the other side of the lobby, everyone turned to see who called the twin's name, it was Thomas.

"Thomas, do you-" Duster tried to speak, but was quickly interrupted by the firefighter.

"I'm glad you are okay!" He waved his arms all around, "After we saw what was done to your house, we thought if they tried to do something to you."

"That's why we are here Tom," Duster resumed, "We saw all that mess back in Lucas' house, but we didn't find anyone…"

"Do you know where our parents are?" Claus asked going directly to the point of the visit. In response Thomas nodded glancing to the left and pointing to a door.

"They are there, they were not at the time of the incident, a resident told us about it, so I decided to tell Flint and Hinawa to stay here."

The group from the islands thanked with a smile and then the whole group proceeded to enter into the room that Thomas pointed. Ness' opened the door letting everyone go through it. Inside, the twins quickly found their parents, Hinawa and Flint interrupted their conversation when they heard several footsteps, and they turned. "Mom!" "Dad!" Both twins shouted, then they hugged them, Flint and Hinawa looked a little surprised for the sudden apparition.

"Thank God you are okay," Flint said separating from the twins.

"You had us worried," Hinawa added.

"No!" exclaimed Claus, "You had us worried."

"Yeah, we were going to visit you, however we just found piles of destroyed wood," Lucas said.

"Excuse me," Duster swiftly waved towards Flint and Hinawa and continued, "Do you know who did that?"

"No idea, Dust." Flint responded without hesitating.

As both men fell on their thoughts, Lucas noticed his mom with an uneasy expression. "What's wrong?"

Hinawa glanced to his husband, she sighed and said, "It's Boney…" she trailed letting Flint continue.

"We haven't found him since the accident," Flint finished the sentence letting Thomas add something.

"We have already searched in the area, but we had no luck."

After that, Ness poked Lucas in his arm, "We should go back with Dr. Andonuts maybe he is done already."

There was no other option; they could only hope Andonuts was done. Now it was not only Kumatora but Boney too, the same questions remained…Who? Yeah, the answer for the first one could be Neyv but apart that there is no second answer. It could have been an accident too –that was an option-, but with the lasts days how it have been, they would be lucky if it was just an accident.

Before leaving the station to head for the Dr. Andonuts lab, Flint asked if he could go, but the answer was the same, with a "no" they left the building, then they take the train. They arrived minutes later, taking the path to the left where the laboratory was. Once said place was in sight Ness, Poo and Paula sighed in relief, therefore receiving strange looks from the other three. "With the wreck we have been going through is a miracle the lab is still here," Paula answered in a humor mood.

They entered into the building, then, they went through a couple of corridors to find the lab where Andonuts and Jeff were supposed to be. "Oh, you finally arrived, good."

"That means you are done, right?" Claus asked, already eager to use the machine.

"Exactly, here it is," Andonuts said pointing to the other end of the room, there stood a machine, it looked like a Instant Revitalizing Machine, a little more squared, the dominant color was kept gray, and the most notable difference was that instead of the door where the person would enter, it had a keyboard, a screen and a small empty space that looked like a microwave. "This, my friends will help is the PSI localizer."

Everyone looked happy with the results, the machine seemed like it would fulfill its task, but someone was confused…Ness scratched his head, "And how does it works?" he asked not sure if the answer was just obvious or it required a complicated explanation.

Dr. Andonuts chuckled for a moment, then cleaned his throat to give his explanation. "It's simple, Ness. You just need to put a sample of DNA in here…" He patted the small box over the keyboard, "And a proximate location must appear not much later."

Ness clapped showing understanding, "Good!"

"Wait!" Lucas said, "We still need the DNA."

"Well, yep," Dr. Andonuts spoke showing the obvious point.

Paula sighed attracting everyone's attention, "It will take us quite some time to go back to the town."

Lucas smirked, "Claus can go there fastest than anybody in here so..."

"I got you bro!" Claus exclaimed giving a high five to his brother, and then proceeded to leave the building at incredible speed.

As Lucas stated, Claus came back in an impressive time. He entered in the room and skid to a halt startling everyone. Some sighed as they realized it was just the redhead.

"And that was a time of fourteen minutes and sixteen seconds, whoo!" Ness shouted raising his arms to then take a glass with water aside him and spray Claus with it. Claus gaped for a moment which was interrupted by his laugh and then the other's.

"So, that was why he did not drink the water..." Jeff muttered.

After wiped the excess of water out of his clothes he knew very well that Kumatora was not their only concern...he walked up to his brother and rummaged into his pocket. He took out a shiny object that Lucas easily recognized..."Boney's medal!" He exclaimed before downing his sight slightly, "Good idea."

While Claus was out for the "recipe" that would help them to find Boney and Kumatora, the doctor had already prepared the machine. Claus handed two small objects to Andonuts: one, Kumatora's butterfly key she used to open the Magypsy shell. And the other, Boney's medal, which Flint said was the only thing he could found in the wreck that was just days before his house.

"It is working doc?" Poo asked. Dr. Andonuts gave a couple of steps away from the machine to show to everyone it was working. The screen already displayed an approximated location of their objectives, but it was still too inaccurate and far away from exact.

Lucas, though assured that the machine would work, he was still in concern in what conditions they could find Kumatora, and now Boney…

The minutes went by, and the signal for Kumatora was getting clearer each time and it appeared to be basing in Summers...Boney's was on the same course, though it was not as exact and clear as Kumatora's.

"I think we should go to Kumatora's signal for now…" Ness said opening the discussion and Lucas' disgust…Leaving his dog "behind" was not something he wanted to do, but Ness was right, there was no time to waste while he waited for Boney's signal, though in disagree, Lucas nodded.

"Yeah. How far is it from here?" Duster asked.

Paula sighed, "It is really far from here."

"Wait!" Poo exclaimed raising his arms in the air, "Why we don't just teleport there?"

Of course! How he didn't come up with that. Ness palmed his face slightly in amusement, how he was so absentminded, why not just teleport there.

"Teleport?" Claus asked. It was valid; the group from the islands was still unfamiliar with the amazing power that Ness and Poo held.

"Exactly…" Ness trailed off to turn to Poo, "but, how I'm going to take everyone, something may go wrong."

"I'm here, you know!"

There was not a lot else to prepare, the whole group gathered outside the laboratory, it was a good place to use Teleport. Jeff rejoined the group and he was ready to go.

"Okay, Jeff, Paula and Duster, you come with me." Poo said and the two mentioned persons joined him. In the other side, Ness would take Claus and Lucas with him.

They were going to use Teleport alpha, so Ness and Poo formed parallel lines. "Remember, we'll meet in Summer's beach!" The red capped boy called one more time before completely focusing in the space travel.

"Wait, wait!" Claus interrupted Ness' concentration which made him growl and respond…

"Now, what?"

Duster was silent, but that didn't mean he was not nervous as well…space travel doesn't sound like something he would like to do. Anyway…there were no more options, he had to stay calm.

"What are you going to do?" by his voice, Claus was, if not scared of time traveling, at least nervous. This made Lucas giggle…though…after he thought about it…What the hell Ness was going to do!

Ness smirked, he was going to let Claus discover Teleport by himself…"Oh, don't worry, just hold hands…" he started running, the landscape starting to get blurry and the portal materializing was combining with the colors of the late afternoon. Before the space travel started he said, "Just be careful with the landing!"

After Ness finished speaking, the whole group entered in the portal, not even a second later, a blue and black portal appeared in the Summer's beaches…it was Ness' portal. He was the one leading them, so he was the first to come out of the portal, he quickly shook off the dizziness feeling from the space travel and nailed his hand into the snow covering the beach. Lucas resisted the impact and kept his grip on Ness' hand…Claus didn't have the same luck, he was sent flying ten meters into the snow and another twenty on the frozen water…

_Everything is frozen…_ Ness thought, the view was so strange for him, the whole place was covered with ice and snow, and he had to admit it was unnerving. _Perhaps this is the Dark Dragon's work?_

"Claus! Are you okay?" Lucas called running at his brother direction. Claus responded with a hand motion and got out of the frozen sea.

"Thanks, Luke." Claus leaned for a moment in his brother; he examined a couple of cuts and bruises, but nothing really bad. "And what is this?"

Ness took a moment to look around, it was ironic, the beautiful city was called Summers, but it was now sunk in snow. "Summers…"

"Well, it is not summer…Winters would fit better." Claus tried joking, but Ness didn't hear, he was hypnotized in the landscape…Not only the beach was covered in snow –along with the ocean-, but the streets were as well. The buildings had ice on them and looked worn away.

"This is not normal, there is always sun and people on the street a-and the sea is always great for surfing, b-but…but." Ness gave up; this was 'not' Summers…

"You're telling me, this place is different?"

"Is always sunny!"

"Maybe, the Dark Dragon?" Claus asked looking at Lucas, the blonde agreed, there was not other explication for the weather.

"We should look for the others, and then we can search Kumatora," Ness said. They walked for several minutes on the city…The snow storm really did a wreck on the city. There were not people, it looked like a ghost town, and the only noise was the wind blowing.

They were already in the bay, walking through several houses seeing if they could have luck finding their friends; it was strange that they didn't appear with them. Poo was not a rookie using PSI or Teleport; in fact he was better than Ness controlling it…something that the capped boy didn't like to be reminded.

Ness growled, he was clearly upset by the situation, they could not find their friends or anybody in the whole city, it was just too strange. And not only Ness, but the other two were starting to loss their patience. "This is ridiculous! We are not going to find anyone here."

Lucas sighed. Ness was right, the situation didn't seem to be on their side, but what else they could do…this was the place the machine marked, they could only continue searching…

"Guys, you heard that?" Claus asked, he got both boys' attention, "There...hear."

"It sounds like...a parade?" Ness stated, though he didn't know if what he was saying had any sense...a march on a frozen ghost town, that surely sound unlikely.

"We are in the middle of nothing, there can't be a parade going now," Lucas exclaimed walking out of the area where the houses where. He was going to walk out to the street, but he saw something that made him back up...and quickly!

Noticing the reaction of Lucas, and how he suddenly hid behind a house just poking his head out, Claus spoke up, "Lucas?"

"Claus, come here and please tell me what is in the other side of the road..."

"No...i-impossible...Pigmasks?"

"What are you talking about?" Ness asked walking carelessly towards the boys, in response, the twins dragged him to their position: behind a house.

"These are the persons that started everything…this is why we are here now, why I had to release the Dark Dragon…" Lucas stated giving Ness a new sight of the situation.

"But, what they are doing here?"

"I don't know…"

The three boys kept watching the group of Pigmasks, which more of a group; it looked like a small army. In further inspection they had something of everything, tanks, war vehicles, heavy and light troops; everything in their own style.

"Now, what we do?" Ness whispered enough high so that only the twins could hear. "We need to hurry and search for Poo and the others."

Lucas already knew that, Poo's group could be looking for them at that moment, and worst, they could bump into the Pigmasks. Of course, his problems didn't end there. Kumatora -as well as Boney- was waiting for them, her signal would not stay in that place forever. "And...what if we get rid of those Pigmasks?"

Claus gasped silently. _Did Lucas loss his mind?_ "Lucas, I can't even count the number of vehicles they have; we would not stand a chance."

"But Claus, maybe the reason of why there's no people here is because of them."

"No, Lucas, I won't let you even try it, is just not smart."

"Oh, just shut up!" Claus and Ness were taken aback by the response, "YOU commanded ALL of them at some point..." Lucas trailed off when he remembered Ness was also there, and that some points of their story were never touched.

"What does that mean?" Ness asked, both brothers stood silent for a moment. "So?" The capped boy asked again, but there was no response until a shout broke the silence.

"Squad two, three and four, go and search through the residential area, I want every single house checked."

"Damn, we have to move."

"Let's go, follow me." Ness got out of his position and let the twins follow him. They ran as fast and silent as they could. Ness knew some of the people that lived there so he knew some houses had windows that could be open from the outside. "Here, enter enter!"

The first one was Lucas, he cautiously placed one of his knees over the window's base and jumped inside the house, he stood there waiting for the other two.

The next one was Claus; he placed his hand on the window's base and leaped inside being careful of not tripping when landing. Ness was the last one, as Claus, he placed his hand on the window and leaped inside, the problem was that he couldn't get his foot high enough so he fell face first into the house breaking a table.

"Sir! There is movement in that house!" A Pigmask soldier called pointing at the house where the twins and Ness were.

"Well done, Ness," Claus said mocking at Ness fall.

"Shut up, and go upstairs!" Ness responded getting up a little sore. Lucas and Claus followed Ness to the second floor of the house, then to the small attic it had, the space was minimum and the lighting was dim.

"Are you going to fight now?" Lucas muttered to Claus who rolled his eyes, "There are no more options."

"Like I didn't know…" Claus could barely get up –again, the space in the attic was very small-, "Hold my hands, each one." He ordered, Lucas and Ness obeyed without reproaching.

Suddenly a loud "crack" was heard, it was the wooden door, a Pigmask just break in. "Go, go, go!" Several footsteps could be heard…in the kitchen, the living room…then the bedrooms…

"Now?" Ness said hurrying the redhead aside him.

"Shh, I'm waiting for the best moment, when they discover us."

_This will end badly…_ Lucas thought. Everyone kept their gaze at the door, the continuous shouts of the Pigmasks reporting in and preparing to raid the next room were by no means calming. The footsteps finally got into the bedroom where the stairs to the attic were.

"Sir, this is the last section!"

"Good, everyone ready your weapons!" That was the final warning for the boys inside the attic, Ness gulped before the last move was done. The small door of the attic opened, the intimidating head of a Pigmask appeared, not a normal Pigmask though. He entered with a riffle in his hand and then turned on a flashlight on his riffle. His height was at least seven feet; he had a skin-tight gray and black suit with a cape behind, and helmet with two horns in it. After inspecting the whole room, he found three persons in a corner, in that moment the three boys got a better look of their attacker.

"Freeze!" The huge Pigmask ordered with a breaking voice.

Ness' eyes widened at the mere sight of the 'monster' in front of them.

"Oh, don't fu- wow!" Before anyone could react, Claus –along with Ness and the blonde- shot out of the attic, using PK Speed, he easily destroyed the weak wood roof.

A small troop of Pigmasks appeared as soon as they touched ground, though that didn't mean Claus stopped running which gave a perfect boost to Lucas' next move...

"PK Love!" Lucas shouted delivering a white ball of energy that exploded as soon as it had contact with a Pigmask releasing multi color hexagons in the air. It didn't end there; the explosion almost trapped the three heroes, if it was not for Ness who raised a PSI Shield... _He should be more careful the next time..._

"Scatter!" Claus commanded, he continued running forward, while Lucas and Ness diverted to the left and right respectively. They were using the houses as cover, making the enemy soldiers get confused easily.

As Lucas continued going left, he finally entered in the bay where every single boat was frozen. "Stay there!" A Pigmask colonel called, along with four Pigmasks captains, they all aimed their guns at the blonde. Lucas raised his arms for a moment, as fast as he could, he raised a Counter, the soldiers fell in the trap and shot. As the bullets bounced on the shield and went back to the soldiers, Lucas ran away from that area.

Claus had his situation a little easier than the other two. He already had built up momentum to continue through the residential area to get to the beach…_As long as I don't bump into something-_

He forgot to focus on the path for a second. When he raised his head to see, a tank had already blocked his path. It was ready to shoot. Without hesitating, Claus took out the thunder sword's shaft from his pocket and turned it on, the sword started glowing, and he was preparing an attack. Using PSI, Claus boosted himself up in the air…being above the tank, he aimed for the cannon. As Claus fell he whipped his sword in the air releasing a powerful thunder on the tank's cannon. The tank caught fire and Claus continued his way to the zone where they arrived, before the small Pigmask army would gather again and caught them off guard –most of them were spread on the residential zone-.

"Where the hell I'm going!" Ness yelled out in frustration, he quickly found out that at his direction there was nothing else than more houses. He had to stop a moment to think the way out of the area, Ness was already deep inside it…_Maybe left…no! Right…NO!_ There was no clear path, in every direction the now abandoned and frozen houses just blocked the view, that was what was frustrating Ness. He finally decided going left, he resumed the running and went left.

Ness' heart started beating faster and faster…a group of footsteps were close to him…so close that he could feel a small vibration on the ground. "There he is! Open fire!" The same voice that boomed the attic called…And the shots started.

Ness hid behind a house; the soldiers were approaching quickly…"PK Flash!" Ness shouted creating a huge flash of light which some soldiers fell from it and some other just got blinded for a moment. Ness took the opportunity, focusing he summoned a PSI guitar –the original form of PK Rockin'- and then moved his fingers through the PSI creation like he was playing it, unleashing huge waves of energy that blasted almost all the Pigmask squad.

"Not so fast!" Someone yelled on Ness' ears, he turned around as fast as he could to meet the punch of what seemed the leader of the Pigmasks now present.

Ness destroyed a couple of houses before landing on the ground roughly. He was angry, getting up he summoned a smaller PSI guitar and rushed towards the giant Pigmask. "Ha-ha, are you kidding me?" The Pigmask was mocking at his smaller opponent using what looked like a stupidly physical attack.

Ness skidded to the left before reaching his opponent, slamming his guitar on the floor the unleashed a PSI wave at which the Pigmask sidestepped. Ness jumped forward trying to surprise the enemy, and whipped his guitar in the air unleashing an aerial wave, the Pigmask ducked under the attack and charged. With his hand open he caught and grasped the capped boy by his neck…the PSI guitar vanished as Ness had to focus his energy in not getting his neck broken.

_Dammit! This guy is too strong…Lucas and Claus must be in the beach already, what do I do? _Ness was flailing his legs, but the Pigmask didn't even move. "It's futile!" The Pigmask yelled before he slammed Ness on the frozen floor, he practically destroyed a chunk of the floor with the mere hit of his body.

"Ness!" said person barely heard someone calling his name, he opened his eyes with heaviness –the last attack was surprisingly strong- and noticed…Claus, he was approaching with his special speed and his sword in front of him.

The Pigmask had good reflexes, but not good enough to realize that someone was going to stab him. Claus smirked in satisfaction as his sword was just inches away the body…In that moment the Pigmask noticed the yellow glowing sword, he screeched as the sword impaled into his body and a show of sparkles was thrown out of his being. The giant fell into the floor roughly, he was unconscious and paralyzed.

Claus took out the sword from the unconscious Pigmask and proceeded to help Ness getting up. "That guy was tough, eh?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Ness hesitated for a second, he didn't want to sound corny or something, "uh…thanks, you saved me this time…" he sounded so monotone…

"Ha, you're welcome. When I heard all that wreck coming from here, I supposed you needed a hand." Claus smiled.

"But…Lucas?"

"I don't know, I didn't get that far, but I hope he's already in the beach."

"Well, let's go."

"Um…all the bay and the area are full with Pigmasks," Claus said showing concern and the need of a better route.

"Hmm, there is a small street behind those buildings." Ness pointed with his finger the zone where the hotel, store and museum stood.

"Okay, let's go over there."

Without a word Ness took Claus hand, the redhead frowned at which Ness rolled his eyes and motioned to the street, Claus let out a small chuckle and then shoot out.

_Argh! Where they are, I thought we were supposed to meet here, and worst the troops don't stop coming…_ Lucas was cornered into his Shield omega, the enemy troops didn't back up and he had to wait until his own reinforcements arrived. The soldiers couldn't stop shooting for a second? Of course they would not!

His shield could hold a little more before giving in, but if a PSI attack appeared the shields would drop instantly… "PK Love!" He shouted releasing an explosion that drained his own shield and beat a good number of troops.

Lucas then ran to the frozen waters expecting the snow his PK Love raised in the air would give him cover. "Wow." He exclaimed realizing that trying to walk on the frozen sea wasn't a good idea.

"Pigmask! Release the chimera, now!" A high ranked Pigmask called, his white with red spots suit and cape was something Lucas never saw until then. Lucas fixed his gaze on the high tanked Pigmask; he was standing over a tank. A group of three normal white Pigmasks obeyed his orders without a word and approached a polarized crystal box that the tank was carrying; they opened it and then moved away from it. Lucas frowned, was something inside that box?

A roar echoed inside the box just before what looked like a serpent shot out of it landing on the frozen water easily breaking the ice covering it. Lucas didn't get a good view of the creature, but from what he saw, he could tell it was blue, large and with huge scales.

The sun was already setting, so the sight was decreasing. "Claus, Ness, where are you?"

The water was starting to get agitated, the monster was approaching…another roar was heard, this time below the blonde, Lucas gasped as he was saw the huge shadow of the serpent swimming below. "PK Flash," he casted a small ball of light to get better lighting.

Right, left, up, down…the chimera was too fast for Lucas to get a good shot. That's until he realized…_I should get out of here_…

He tried to run through the ice, but it was futile, he kept sliding and tripping, and to make it worst the Pigmask troops were gathering at the beach…and fast.

"Lucas, behind you!" Ness called, he along with Claus were standing on the bridge were the boats arrived. Lucas turned his head to see the monster coming out of the frozen sea, its mouth open.

Lucas slashed the air with his hand summoning his PSI Whip. Claus understood his brother's idea and ran to the very end of the bridge, which was the whip range; he grasped it as hard as he could and while he led Lucas to himself Ness were covering them with his Shield beta level.

"Guys, hurry!" Ness shouted, his shield was not as strong as Lucas', so he had to use more energy to keep it up.

"Thank you, Claus," Lucas almost fell on his brother, but Claus helped him with his balance.

When the chimera noticed that its preys got out of the water, it went for the nearest food…a group of Pigmasks.

"What are you doing?" The white and red Pigmask yelled commanding all the troops to get out of the water… "We have lost that chimera…"

"Lucas, would you help me here…" Ness requested, Lucas nodded in response and gestured over to Ness to drop his shield, and then Lucas raised a Shield omega level. "Can you use PK Thunder to eliminate that group?" The capped boy asked to the boy on his side: Claus.

"But…they are a lot."

"Well, I will support you and when we have enough space, we'll go for their leader, he should have the answers we need."

"Okay…" Claus sighed. He turned around to face the Pigmasks troops who had stopped firing for a moment to reload their weapons, "PK Thunder!" Claus swung his arms in the air as several thunders came crashing into the small army.

Now was Ness' turn, he summoned his PSI guitar and started 'playing' it, several PSI waves sent the enemy soldiers flying in the air eventually putting them out of combat.

The three psychics were working as a team, Lucas dropped his shield each time Ness used PK Rockin', when Ness needed a small repose, Claus would show and use PK Thunder.

The PSI storm continued until pretty much every soldier was either on the ground or far away from them looking for cover. That's when the Pigmask at charge needed to take a decision…his troops were falling in front of him, in any moment the psychics could counter attack and do whatever they wanted. "Sir! What you order?"

The Pigmask at charge stroke his chin for a moment, "Soldier, we have any other secondary attack troops left?"

"No, sir."

"We still have the Fragilis, trainee?"

The white Pigmask was taken aback by the idea, "Y-yes sir, b-but-"

"I didn't ask for your opinion, soldier." The white and red Pigmask looked at the other side of the beach where the lasts troops were trying to overcome the three psychics. "We don't have anymore options…"

"Sir, our king didn't give us permission to use it," The low ranked Pigmask said expecting he didn't need to even get near the beast the army called Fragilis.

"He told us we could use Fragilis as a last resort, and let me add that those three psychics are high priority."

"But…" the white Pigmask tried to think in another excuse to not release the beast, "we haven't finished the tests with it, sir. It would be dangerous to use it."

"You have used it already in battle, or am I wrong?"

"Well…"

"I asked you a question, trainee," the Pigmask at charge urged the soldier.

"Yes, sir. In a battle against a portion of Fourside's army."

"And what were the results?"

"Our king ordered us to use Fragilis in that battle to try it…it destroyed pretty much every vehicle, and killed every soldier."

The white and red Pigmask grinned, just like he thought. Maybe they didn't have the most powerful weapons at this moment, but he knew that the simple fact of releasing Fragilis the battle would be over. It was like an Ultimate Chimera under control: the perfect weapon. "Alright, order them to release Fragilis, trainee."

"Why they are backing up?" Claus asked.

Lucas dropped his shield, and Ness let his guitar vanish. They were confused, a moment ago there were at least thirty soldiers and now…none.

In the other side of the beach a tank with double the size and heavily armored stood. At least fifteen white Pigmasks positioned behind the tank where a big metal door was found. "O-open it!" The Pigmasks were truly afraid; behind the metal door a monster was kept. With shaky movements, the Pigmasks started lowering the metal door.

"What is that…?" Lucas muttered. The three boys squinted to see in the distance -the fact that the night was practically on them made everything harder to see-, a loud slam was heard, as from a metallic object, just after that a group of Pigmasks shot off everywhere as seeking for a place to hide.

A loud and intimidating roar was heard all across the zone, it made the boys shiver. "Another chimera…" Claus said before completely focusing on the wreck going in the other side of the beach.

A chimera came out of the armored tank, at the distance it looked like a wolf two times bigger. Its gray and brown fur excelled from the white snow. Its tail was something that made the psychics gasp and gulp…it looked entirely metallic, and long, at least three quarters of its body and in the end it had a small blade. The eyes if the creature, though normal black eyes, they looked mechanical, the pupil moved a lot, signal that its eyes were scanning the place.

"Beatiful," the Pigmask in charge said. "Fragilis…"

A white Pigmask handed a small control to the Pigmask in charge, the control itself was very simple, just a couple of buttons and an antenna, since Fragilis didn't need a human total control to do its job, the control would only give the necessary commands.

"That thing looks dangerous…" Ness said. Claus rolled his eyes, it was a stupid point, every chimera was dangerous, in his opinion.

"I can't even see it at all," Lucas complained.

"Attack," the Pigmask in charge commanded. In a second the chimera dashed out and went against Ness' group.

Faster than any other animal or chimera, Fragilis was in the three boys' side of the beach in a blink of an eye. Claus knew what to do, the beast was coming at them at full speed, his mission was to stop it. "PK Thunder!" Claus took out his sword and whipping it in the air, he casted a thunder at Fragilis.

The wolf-like chimera screeched to a halt and in a single movement, its chrome colored tail blocked the attack absorbing it then started glowing.

Claus and Lucas gasped as they had a better look of the creature just a few meters away from him. "Boney!"


	9. The Chimera called Fragilis

"Boney!" Claus yelled. He couldn't believe it. It was impossible, how they got Boney… Maybe…that's why they didn't find him at his house. Lucas fell to his knees trying to process the image. Claus' head hanged low. Their dog …How could those heartless bastards turn it into another of their monsters?

Claus growled as he looked at the distance. There he was, the Pigmask in white and red stood over a tank, a grin crossing the few visible parts of his face. "Bastard…" He muttered.

"Guys…" Ness said without taking his eyes off of the chimera. When Ness finished talking, Boney's tail glowed even brighter, and with a glimpse a ball of energy shot out against the three psychics.

"Back up!" Lucas commanded. He moved his hands upwards and a PSI shield rose in front of them. When the attack collided into the shield, the shield exploded sending Lucas to the floor. Ness offered a hand which Lucas accepted. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" He trailed off. He didn't want to battle Boney! Why? Why he had to do it? It was not fair. He didn't want to see his loyal partner get hurt by his owner.

"Dang, this thing-" Ness was interrupted by quick glares from the twins. "Ergh…I meant, Boney is a little too powerful."

"You're right, there," Claus responded.

"Any plan?" Lucas acquainted almost growling, he definitely didn't want to continue this. He wanted to go back…home.

"None…but," Ness stuttered doubting his next words, "if you let me, I can try PSI."

Claus sighed in defeat before responding. "Whatever."

"PK Rockin'!" PSI waves were sent in Boney's direction. Boney reacted in an instant; he dashed to the other side, to the ocean's direction. The PSI waves covered a huge area, and where Boney was the attack didn't cover.

"How the hell! Did you see that?" Ness said not perceiving Boney's move at all.

"Go, Fragilis! Finish them!" The Pigmask at charge commanded from his safe spot in the beach. His job was practically done here, if the battle wasn't over in five minutes he was leaving the beach. Fragilis could go back to the base by himself.

Boney charged forward, the three psychics barely sidestepped the attack. Boney attacked again, he stretched out his chrome tail and whipped it at Ness, who was the closest one. Ness was not fast enough to evade the tail, but he put his bat in front of him which caused the tail to nail into the wood. Boney whipped his tail backwards; Ness' bat went out flying while Ness was thrown into the floor by the force of Boney's tail.

Ness was just a few meters from the chimera. "Ness!" Lucas and Claus shouted from the distance. Ness stumbled to his feet only to meet the huge Boney's claws –which looked more like blades. They created a huge gash in Ness' side. He was on the ground panting. Boney walked as he prepared to stomp his prey.

"Stop!" Claus yelled before swinging his thunder sword against the dog. Boney tilted his body and dodged the attack.

"PK Love!" Lucas appeared from behind with the white ball of energy in his hand. Boney had already heard his ex-owner's footsteps. He turned around in a blink and blocked then absorbed the attack with his chrome tail. Once again, Boney's tail glowed brighter…he was getting ready to unleash the energy.

Ness rummaged into his pocket… "Yes…" He said to himself as he took out his always trusty yoyo. He launched the yoyo right into Lucas' legs, the yoyo trapped Lucas' legs and Ness pulled as best as he could. Lucas toppled into the ground and thanks to Ness he dodged the attack in a painful way.

"What was that?" Lucas asked frowning, but he quickly changed his words. "I mean…thanks…" He noticed Ness was not in a good state, the gash in his side was alarming. Ness could only groan in pain.

"Lucas, Ness, are you okay?" Claus asked getting into his feet.

"I'm okay, but Ness needs help. Cover me for a minute, I'll heal him."

Claus nodded, and with that, Lucas muttered some words and a green light appeared in his hand.

Claus turned to Boney and then said, "Boney, please remember us… Lucas and me, we are your owners. No! Your family. Come with us and we'll help you with that," Claus finished pointing at Boney's tail.

It took several seconds to Boney to respond but he finally growled weakly. _Claus…_ The words echoed in Claus' mind. For a moment he remembered when he found out that he could speak with his dog via his mind. But… that meant Boney still knew who he was, maybe he had just no control over his body…just like when Claus was the commander of the Pigmask Army.

Boney pointed his tail at Claus, in response, he raised his sword to Boney's tail height, Claus slightly shook his head trying to tell his dog not to continue with this, but Boney growled, this time louder. His tail emitted a small light then shot the leftovers of Lucas' absorbed PK Love. Claus' sword held the attack efficiently and he countered trying to slash Boney's tail. It was futile, Boney was by far a lot faster than his owner, he leaped to one side, then to the other, confusing Claus. Boney finally leaped forward and rammed his head towards Claus, he was sent flying to the snow.

"Wait here, Ness," Lucas said leaving his wounded friend.

"Don't worry, the gash in my stomach won't let me."

Lucas strode towards his dog, he wasn't happy that Boney had attacked Claus, he didn't want to, but he was going to go with everything to stop Boney –little did he know.

"Come on Boney, you don't have to continue."

Boney's eyes glowed for a second brighter than before, Lucas thought he was doing it well. Boney whipped with his tail, Lucas dove to the side, and he turned to where the tail struck and saw a small crater… He gulped and hoped to get out alive of this.

Boney attacked again, this time, Lucas raised a shield, the shield saved him but it vanished after the first strike of Boney's tail. Just what Boney's tail was made of? Lucas wondered.

He thought ice would freeze the chrome tail's joints. Time ago he was amazed by how Kumatora used PK Freeze, it was beautiful how the ice exploded in a thousand bits. She started teaching him in the last days before he pulled the last needle how to use PK Freeze, he didn't learn how to cast the giant snowflake at the enemy, but he learned how to generate ice… at least he understood the basics.

"PK Freeze!" Lucas shouted. Normally doing that would make the user focus more on whatever he/she is trying to do, but still he thought it was not enough. An icy wind came out of Lucas' hands, he pointed at Boney. Surprisingly enough, the icy wind covered Boney's whole tail, for a moment, the chimera tried to move its tail, putting all his concentration on that action, so much concentration that he forgot about Lucas.

"PK Love!" Lucas' hand was glowing with gamma level PSI; he stretched his hand out to deliver the attack. When the attack collided, there was a huge explosion.

Claus -who had just recovered -from Boney's last attack- ran up to the smoke cloud. He didn't see his brother nor Boney. He used his PSI to dissipate the smoke… He winced from what he saw. Lucas was (lying) on the floor, maybe unconscious. Boney, on the other hand, was standing in front of Lucas, the only signal of an attack on Boney's body was some scratches and an almost invisible crack on his tail.

"Dammit, Boney! Stop this!" Claus yelled utterly frustrated at his situation. But while one cried, the other one laughed. In the other side of the beach stood the Pigmask in red and white, his face covered by a huge grin. Just as he thought, Ness, neither Lucas nor Claus could have been a challenge to Fragilis. He decided it was time to leave, he beckoned his troops and everyone saluted and responded to his orders, they left in a matter of seconds, now the beach was empty.

Boney was going to attack Claus but his sensor detected something, possible enemy approaching in the sky, Boney backed up at least ten meters to get a better view of the enemy.

Claus frowned, why would Boney back up? He kept looking at Boney for a moment until he heard the noise of a motor approaching. He glanced at the road behind them, it was impossible, the street was frozen and the town desert. He didn't think the noise came from there, but just to clarify, he glanced to the sky. It was a flying machine, the one that made the noises. He wondered what it meant.

A head poked out of the machine to see in the frozen land below, his blond hair and the glimpse of his glasses were easily recognizable. "Jeff!" Claus called; his voice had a tone of relief.

"Claus!" Jeff returned the salute then looked around. "Ness, Lucas!" Jeff found the bodies of his friends limp on the cold floor of the small they were standing on. His fingers danced through the keypad of his flying machine and the machine descended at an impressive speed, but halted instantly, just inches from the floor.

"What happened?" Jeff asked getting out of the machine, he winced slightly when he noticed Boney or at his sight: the chimera.

Claus didn't separate his eyes from Boney but still responded. "Well, when you didn't arrive, we started searching for Kumatora but then bumped into a troop of Pigmasks, after fighting them, they left but not before releasing their ultimate chimera… My dog…"

"Really…geez…"

"We have barely scratched him. He also seems unaffected by PSI."

Boney just stood there growling weakly, his tactics told him that he had to at least have a little information of the enemy when engaging them, and Jeff was unknown to him, he would have to wait until they moved.

"We better leave this place before this gets worst."

Claus hesitated for a second, he didn't want to leave Boney, they had to fight a small army of Pigmasks for nothing, it was unacceptable… but it was more unacceptable to die in that moment. "Ok, let me pick them and then we leave."

When Boney heard their plan, he didn't hesitate and charged towards them. "Watch out!" Jeff shouted. Claus listened late, when he turned, Boney's claws were just inches from him. But before impacting, a small shield appeared in front of Claus. Lucas used the last power he had and created the shield. It broke at impact but that small room of time gave Claus time to pick up Ness and Lucas with his PSI, Jeff instantly followed and jumped into his machine.

"PK Thunder!" Claus said, from his hands, three gamma thunders landed in front of Boney, he didn't want to attack him directly, Boney would have just return the attack, instead, that small distraction gave Jeff time to took off and get out of there.

"I can't believe we got out of there alive…" Claus said to himself looking at his brother. How Boney was transformed from a puppy to a monster like that.

"Yeah, I can't believe that thing almost killed you."

Claus glared at Jeff, although he was right. However, Claus had a question regarding how Jeff saved them. "I thought you were with Poo. How you found us?"

Jeff pondered the question then answered at the same time he steered the flying machine. "You see, I think it was matter of luck," he then emphasized, "a lot of luck I have to say. When you left and entered the portal, Poo told us to get ready, he counted to one, two but before the three, I noticed something was lacking in my backpack, I stopped holding hands with Duster and Paula to check if I was right. In that very moment, Poo left along with your friend and Paula. But I still wanted to help, so Dr. Andonuts gave me this: an early version of his Skyrunner. But it still needs some touches, when I finished I came here and found you, guys."

Claus' mouth was agape, he was amazed by a simple feeling Jeff had, just saved their lives.

"I see…" Dr. Andonuts spoke, he was stroking his chin, something was wrong. Why Poo, Paula and Duster were not in the place they were supposed to meet?

"So… any plan, doc?" Claus asked. His concern was still on his brother. He got to his limit. Ness on the other hand, was still wounded, there was no way they could cure him… Dr. Andonuts was a famous inventor, Jeff was an impressive genius and Claus was a well known master with PSI… but the problem was still there: no one could cure something like Ness' wound. Dr. Andonuts injected something on Ness, it caused the wound to stop bleeding, then Ness used the Instant Revitalization Machine for a couple minutes but it didn't help healing something like the gash he had in his stomach.

"Should we put Lucas in the revitalization machine, Doc?" Jeff asked pointing at Lucas who was resting in a couch.

"Yeah, he will get his energy back in a few minutes."

Claus beckoned Jeff to come with him and help him. "You get his feet and I get his head," he commanded Jeff. He did as told and both boys headed to the machine with Lucas in their arms.

After putting him inside and tapping some buttons, the machine started working.

Claus sighed as he flopped into the sofa, not a long later Jeff accompanied him. "I'm out of ideas… I-I just don't know what to do…" Claus spoke first.

"We gotta stick to the initial plan: finding Kumatora and Boney. Maybe if we find them, we can find Poo, Paula and Duster."

"But we don't have any leads to start with…"

"Well, the PSI finder-"

Claus interrupted Jeff, "The PSI finder?"

"The machine we used to find Kumatora… As I was saying the PSI finder detected Boney's signal. It's a bit far from here, but if Ness is able to teleport us there, everything will be faster." Jeff cleaned his throat and then continued. "Surely Boney is in whatever place the enemy uses as HQ, so that means we can find them all if we just get one of our guys."

When Jeff finished, Claus looked at him, nothing really going through his mind, he was just planning their next moves in an imaginary field in front of him. A couple of minutes later, Claus' tactics and Jeff mere daydreaming were interrupted by someone in the other side of the room. The noise was metallic, as if someone was punching a piece of metal. Both boys' eyes drifted to the Instant Revitalization Machine, in there, Lucas rammed the door –from the inside- one more time and it opened letting him fall on the floor.

Claus saw his brother falling from the machine to the floor; he didn't have to hurry if Lucas was okay, after such a beating –courtesy of their dog- and a good ten minutes inside the revitalization machine Lucas surely was alright. "How are ya feeling?"

Lucas stroked his hindhead for a moment then answered, "Better. At least now I can feel my body." He looked around, searching for someone. "Ness… is he okay?"

Jeff and Claus looked at each other. Despite Ness deep wound, after Lucas could check him –and use Healing on him-, Ness was going to be ready for their next battle. "When you feel better, you should use your PSI on him. But don't hurry, he is not in danger," Jeff said.

Lucas decided to take a nap. Thanks to his experiments and the fact that he didn't have a house, Dr. Andonuts lent Lucas a bed. After watching Lucas sleep for a couple minutes, Claus and Jeff joined Lucas in the land of dreams. Dr. Andonuts was not the only full time worker on the lab, which meant the lab had a good amount of spare rooms… and after two hours of deserved sleep, the three boys woke up –just with a difference in minutes.

Lucas was the first to wake up, at least his mind told him to wake up –his body told him to stay in the bed for another hour. "No, I should check how Ness is…" he told to himself lifting his body from the bed, he slowly walked out of the room, down a flight of stairs and into the main laboratory where Dr. Andonuts was.

"Hey, Lucas. Looking for Ness?" Dr. Andonuts asked knowing the obvious, in response, Lucas nodded.

"He is two rooms away from where you slept."

Lucas frowned, he walked a long distance from the place he slept to Dr. Andonuts' lab and now he had to go all the way back… he snorted, but thanked Dr. Andonuts for the info.

Lucas arrived to Ness' room, he knocked three times but no response, he thought there would no be problem in entering, anyway. When Lucas entered, Ness was there, sleeping in his side with a hand covering the already bandaged wound. "Ness?" Lucas whispered, he felt stupid for a moment, obviously Ness was asleep.

Lucas poked Ness arm, he didn't want to startle Ness. The latter one seemed to respond, he stretched out with his eyes still closed. Ness yawned and opened his eyes slowly to meet Lucas'.

"What?" Ness grunted, maybe Lucas should had let Ness sleep more… no, as long as Ness wound was fixed up he could sleep more.

"Let me fix up your wound there, and then you can sleep a little more," Lucas said.

Ness pondered for a second, if it was fast, why not now? He took out the bandages and showed Lucas the gash in his side.

Lucas eyes' widened slightly, it was bigger than he expected. "Wow, you got lucky Boney didn't aim for your chest or something."

"Yeah…" Ness trailed off thinking what could had happened.

While Ness was in his own business, Lucas started. A green light covered both of his hands as he passed them slightly above Ness' wound, the gash started to close and lose its red color to a lighter one. A minute went on and the wound didn't heal any more, Lucas frowned at this, but it was still okay, the rest had to be done by Ness' body. When Ness stopped feeling the refreshing on his side he thought it was over.

"Am I better now, doctor?"

Lucas smiled and responded, "Yeah, I couldn't heal you completely but your body will do it in the next hours, maybe a day."

Ness was satisfied with the result, he put the bandages on around his stomach and accommodated his blanket over him. "Thanks Luke, now I'll resume my dreams. Please tell me when we will be leaving."

Lucas didn't agree with Ness completely, though, it was around five in the morning and the sun was coming out again. Lucas thought of going back to sleep again but his instinct told him to continue the strategy –he would get the necessary sleep later.

"We have a signal… it belongs to… Kumatora-" Jeff got interrupted by the redhead, who was –on a sofa- trying to sleep in the main lab.

"Again?" Claus grunted with memories of the last day popping up on his head.

"It is better than nothing, Claus. We should give it a try. Using Ness' Teleport we'll get there quickly."

Claus took the opportunity, Jeff was right, that signal was better than nothing. "I'll get Lucas and Ness."


	10. Rescuing Kumatora

Darkness... isolation… pain. That was invading her at the moment. The illumination was minimal. The walls were sound-proof. She was in the center of the small squared room, wondering if she was going to make it out alive of there.

Her head held low. And her back ached due to her sitting position. Once again, she tried to free her wrists, but it was in vain. She tried doing the same for the last six days… or were they seven? She didn't know at this point. Her abductors would give her something to fall asleep, then let some time go and awake her. After that, they repeated the process. In resume, she didn't know how much time had past.

The room was so quiet that the slightest sound startled her at this point. The lock of the door clicked on her ears. The door opened and someone stormed in.

"Ready to continue?" A voice echoed in the room. The silhouette of a robust man walked through the shadows until he reached the center.

"…"

She didn't respond, which made the man feel displeased. "I'm talking to you, Kumatora. Now, I don't care what I have to do; we're going to continue with this until you tell me what I want to know."

"I told you already. I'm as clueless as you."

The man cursed under his breath. It has been like this since she arrived. Kumatora had a strong will, he had to admit, but he had orders as well. "Still lying, eh? It's your choice, it won't change anything."

Why they didn't understand? She was saying the truth. "I got the information that an eight Magypsy resided somewhere in this land."

"That's what I mean. You would need at least a possible location of said Magypsy."

For the first time in the conversation, Kumatora raised her head and looked at the bulky man to the eyes. "The only location I got was here, the whole land, no more."

"If you don't know a location, you may have an idea at least. You didn't come here expecting a miracle."

She did, in fact. Ionia never told anything to Kumatora regarding the location of the eight needle. "Same answer than before," Kumatora muttered.

The man was starting to get mad. "Alright!" He yelled into her face. "Don't tell me anything! I'm sure your friends will be of more help!"

She looked one more time at the man, before he stormed out the room, leaving her in complete isolation… again.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Dang, this storm looks like a signal of the doomsday or something; I didn't know such beautiful islands could have this weather!" Ness expressed his slightly accurate opinion on the sudden rain outside.

"Well…" Lucas sighed. "It will be the doomsday for sure if we don't hurry." Ness chuckled silently, he found this funny, though, Lucas was talking the truth without humor in it.

Claus entered into the lobby running. "I'm ready."

"We are just waiting for Jeff," Ness said.

In that moment, said person joined the psychics. "Okay, let's go."

Some minutes later, Dr. Andonuts joined them as well. But not to accompany them in their journey; he was reminding Jeff about the coordinates in the PSI Finder machine. Jeff inspected his backpack one more time. Unlike Ness, Lucas or Claus; Jeff's main way of fighting was through weapons, so this time he had to be sure everything was in its place.

The four boys walked outside the lab. Coated by the rain, the four boys formed a line. Ness was leading it; Jeff was the second one, Claus was in third, and Lucas in last place.

"Good luck!" Dr. Andonuts shouted from his safe spot under the shed. "Remember to come back here when you regroup with Kumatora!"

"Roger that, Doctor!" Ness shouted back looking over his shoulder.

Jeff poked Ness on the shoulder. "We should hurry."

Ness nodded and resumed his posture. He looked for a moment through the rain looking for an open path for PSI Teleport. Rain complicated everything, but he had to continue. Resting his hand on his forehead he concentrated on the portal. Everything seemed to speed up and in a matter of seconds they were preparing themselves to enter the portal.

The strange feeling of traveling through space didn't last long. Before they knew it, they were in the exit of the tunnel leading to Fourside.

"I can't believe it yet," Claus muttered as they stop holding hands.

"So this was the place your machine displayed?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah. More specific, the center of the city–" Jeff started but got interrupted by Ness finishing the sentence.

"The Monotoli building."

"I thought we were done with that place," Jeff sighed.

Ness thought the same, but remained silent. He was inspecting the surroundings. The city looked a lot less crowded; very few people were on the street. And the annoying rush hour was now replaced by very few cars wandering in the streets.

This is not normal, thought Ness. Did it have to do with Kumatora's possible presence? He didn't know, but unfortunately they had to find out.

"So the plan is to go to the heart of the city?" Claus asked, already eager to proceed and save his friend.

"Yep. However, I feel a strange vibe in the air. We shall be careful," Ness said.

They started walking. They halted some minutes later, and then decided to buy something from the hotel store, and then continued their search.

Neither Ness nor Jeff wanted to get near Monotoli building; the last time was something they had not forgotten. However they had to. Not only Kumatora could have been there, but clues about ones that went into Poo's portal.

They continued their stroll until Lucas spotted something. "Guys, come over here."

They all hid behind the local bakery wondering the why of Lucas' sudden words. "It's something wrong, Luke?" Ness asked.

Lucas hummed in response and pointed to the distance, where the Dinosaur Museum was. "You see it, right?"

"Oh no, they again…" Ness trailed off while looking in the distance. An intimidating tank with the Pigmask army symbol crossed the street.

"We can't risk getting spotted. We should find another path to Monotoli," Jeff suggested. He looked at the tank, remembering the beast he saw in Summer's beach. That thing was a Pigmask army's creation. Definitely he didn't want to cope them.

Ness leaned against the wall. If they saw a tank wandering through the street like it was something normal, surely there was more than one. Maybe the Pigmask were waiting for them. That generated a problem: they couldn't enter the building like it was nothing. But for now, he just wanted to get out of the streets. Just thinking about them getting detected made Ness shiver.

Claus thought Ness looked completely oblivious to what was going on; he poked him in the shoulder. "Ah… Ness. Any idea?"

"Yeah."

"What is it?" Jeff asked. Maybe he didn't have to face the enemy after all.

"Maybe we can sneak up from behind; the Sanctuary location gives us good cover and can lead us to the back of Monotoli."

"Sanctuary location?" Both twins asked in unison.

"They are the places we had to visit in order to fulfill our mission," Jeff explained in simple words.

"Right…" Claus trailed off. "And where is this Sanctuary you're talking about?"

"We have to cross the street, then get behind that department store." Ness pointed where the locals made most of their buys: the Fourside department store. "Once we get there, we have to climb a wall, there's the Sanctuary location, finally from there we cross another street and we get to the Monotoli building from behind."

"Very well. Let's go!" Claus shouted, but got shushed by the rest of his team. He obviously didn't remember they were in enemy territory.

With Ness' route on everyone's head they advanced cautiously using any object and building as cover.

The distance from the bakery to the Sanctuary location was not much, but they spotted a couple of Pigmask soldiers in their way, making them slow down.

Ness climbed up the wall, the next one was Claus, then Lucas and finally Jeff, who received a hand from the young psychic.

"Wow, nice place," Claus said with sincere amazement. The place looked so calm, the noises from the Pigmask vehicles couldn't be heard from there. Some butterflies flew across the zone. It felt familiar… like the sunflower field, so calm, so relaxing, and it made you feel good and without issues. Claus wanted to stay here, but there was obviously no time to waste in this small paradise.

"Beautiful place," Ness said. He was getting mesmerized by the warm feeling, too. He quickly shook his head and talked again, this time with a more commanding tone. "But let's forget this, we have stuff to do."

Ness was the first one to climb the next wall. Once over it, he looked around. No enemies on sight. "We have the path free."

Claus nodded and proceeded to climb the wall. Jeff followed him and Lucas was the last one to get at the other side.

"Alright, there's the back entrance." The group was facing the backside of the building. Ness pointed at a small door. "I'm not sure where that door leads us, but we have to watch out for possible enemies."

In a fast pace, they crossed the street and stood outside the entrance. "Get ready."

Ness slightly pushed the door to peek his head inside. The place was dead. He motioned his team to follow him; they obeyed and entered the building.

"I don't remember this section, Ness," Jeff said. The last time they were here, they didn't get to investigate the whole building. This back entrance was something new. To make the scenario worse, the small room they were in had three doors not counting the exit.

"Well, we should check the doors," Lucas said, walking towards one of the doors.

Claus shrugged and followed his brother. Once they were both ready, Lucas opened the door.

"…uh? What is this?" Claus asked. Ness and Jeff could hear him.

"Something wrong?" Ness asked.

Without words, Lucas exited the room leaving the door completely open just to reveal an empty and dull place.

Jeff frowned. What a useless room! He turned around to face another door, he opened it and revealed another empty space.

Ness mimicked Jeff's movements and opened the last door. This one finally led to the lobby. The other three boys stood there wondering why such odd rooms.

"That was weird…" Ness said as he entered the lifeless lobby.

"There!" Jeff called his friends. He jogged up to the elevator and pressed the button to open it.

"I hope that lady isn't there anymore."

When the elevator arrived to the lobby everyone entered. Once inside, they found out it was not the best place for four persons. Ness pressed the button with the number 48 on it. The elevator started working its way up to the desired floor.

"What's in the forty-eight?" Claus asked.

"We met the major of this city in that floor, maybe we can find something related to Kumatora in there."

Once the elevator halted, the doors opened. Upon inspecting the floor, Ness and Jeff noticed it was very straightforward: a long corridor that led to a double golden colored door.

"There's his office, follow me," Ness called the twins. Jeff was already at Ness' side.

Ness grasped both doors' handles and pushed. The oversized window let the sunlight enter freely in the room, and thus the particles of dust sparkling in the air. However, even with the illuminated room, it still felt lonely and depressing to be here. That was the first thing the boys noticed.

"It doesn't look the same…" Jeff walked in, his eyes inspecting every corner of the room. It didn't look the same. But that didn't work for them.

The four boys walked around the room looking for anything that could be of help. Three of them were far from finding something. It was Claus the one that made the difference. "Guys! Over here," he called across the room. Everyone walked up to Claus' position, Monotoli's desk.

"Why don't you try opening this?" Claus pointed at one of the drawers on Monotoli's desk. This drawer was different –that's why it attracted Claus' attention-, it had a different keyhole, it had the shape of a letter _M_.

"Let me open that," Jeff said. He slipped his hand into his backpack. He took out a middle sized machine; its tip was a small circle with a hole on it. Using the Bad Key machine, Jeff covered the whole keyhole with the tip of his machine. When he heard a click, he put away his machine and glanced at his friends, who shook their heads in signal to Jeff to open the drawer.

He grasped the handle with his right hand. A drop of sweat trickled down his cheek, he blew it away. He returned his attention to the drawer and in a swift motion he pulled the handle and opened it.

Before Jeff could reclaim a small leather box inside the drawer, Ness took it.

He opened the box, and rolled up piece of paper was the only object inside. He unrolled it and found out it was a note.

"The entrance is done. As per orders of our king, the secret passage to the underground level was finished by today's morning. In case of missing keys, a duplication of both keys can be found in the Highness' ex-office," Ness read the note. It was formally written and apparently it was addressed to Monotoli.

"In the Highness' office?" Jeff asked out loud. "It refers to…"

Ness didn't want to hear that disgusting name again, he cut Jeff's words. "Yes."

"It refers to who?" Claus asked.

"To the person that used to work in the forty-seven floor office."

"I wonder what that note meant with 'secret passage'," Lucas wondered out loud. They were in the elevator, eager to get to the 47th floor. It was a quick descend, no more than a minute.

Ness was expecting another deadfloor. However, unlike last time, when the elevator's door opened an alarm along with red flashing lights invaded the room as soon as Lucas gave the first step outside the elevator. Jeff looked at the floor, _Motion lasers…_

"What did you do!" Claus shouted.

"I don't know!" Lucas responded.

"He triggered an alarm. C'mon, let's get to the office!" Jeff had to raise his voice. The alarm dwarfed any other noise or sound on the room.

The corridor extended for thirty meters, in that distance, four doors covered the hallway –two on the right and two on the left–, but there was no time to inspect them. The four boys were already startled by the flashing and loud noise that the alarm made.

They made it to the other side of the room, but the door didn't open. Jeff opted to glance at the doors they past. Pigmask soldiers came out of them. Jeff poked frantically Ness in his back. "Hurry!"

Ness pulled the handle, it didn't work. He tried jerking the handle, it felt like it was going to break, but it didn't. In a rush of adrenaline, he got a glance from their enemies. They were rushing towards them. By this moment, Jeff was almost shoving Ness. He took a couple of steps back, and then thrust his hands forward. With help of PSI, the door opened in the blink of an eye as if a hurricane was trying to force their entry.

Ness and Jeff practically leaped inside the room. The twins sprinted in, and turned around instantly closing the double door.

When the doors were closed, Ness and Jeff pushed a bookshelf to block the door.

"Hang on a sec," Lucas said. He turned back to the door and whispered some words. A weak blizzard filled the room and slowly the bookshelf, part of the wall and the door were covered in solid ice.

"Nice!" Ness whistled.

Before they could do anything in the office, Claus already found what they were searching for. "I think I found something." He raised his hand so the group could see the object in his hand: A similar box as the one in Monotoli's office.

"Another one? What's inside?" Ness asked.

Claus noticed the box didn't have any lock this time; he opened it and found two keys. One with the shape of letter 'P' and the other a 'M'.

"Good, now we have the keys… but what now?" Ness said.

Jeff stroked his chin and spoke up, "The note mentioned the keys were for a secret passage, and it said it was finished a certain morning. He speculated that 'that morning' was after we visited this place–"

An explosion shook the room. Fortunately the door and furniture held. There was no much time left before they forced their entry.

"…As I was saying…"

"Just finish!" The three boys yelled. The noises from outside the room were unsettling.

"I think the secret passage is in the empty rooms at the lobby…" He waited for the other boys' responses. They had to agree with Jeff, what else could they do, anyway?

"Alright, I'm sure you're right. The only thing left is to get to the lobby again," Lucas said pointing to the door.

Ness looked through the window. Their only way out was the way they entered. "We'll have to rush back to the elevator."

"Hmm…" Claus hummed attracting everyone's attention. He had a plan in mind, though he was not the best tactician… "I'll blast the door using PK Love, and then you will run as fast as you can through the corridor. Lucas, can you cover us with a shield while running?"

"Actually, I have never used a shield while moving, but it may work." Claus looked for a moment at his brother… "may work"… He was risking their lives, but they had no option.

They formed a line. Claus was in the front ready to create an exit. Jeff was behind Claus, and Lucas between Ness and Jeff.

"Here I go guys," Claus warned them one last time. He threw his hands backwards. "PK Love!"

A white energy blew the door up and destroyed part of the wall. At the same time, they heard screaming, that meant Claus got rid of the Pigmask at the door, at least.

"Lucas!" Claus shouted before they got out of their room.

Lucas knew what Claus meant. It was time to Lucas to put up a Shield for the whole team, but it was his first time, too. Besides, the shield was like a wall, not a bubble. How could he protect them from both sides?

He could try a Shield in each hand, but he didn't know if he was capable of that. However, capable or not, Claus yelled at him.

"Lucas!"

"Go, I'll cover!" He shouted back to his brother.

Lucas raised his two arms and a Shield appeared in each hand. The cover was not enough to cover every single inch of them, but most of their bodies were protected from the bullets. Ness and Jeff –who were just focused on running– could see how the bullets bounced in the shield. They could not help but blink at each strike.

When they reached the elevator, it was still open; they leaped inside. Ness pressed the button for the 1st floor. While the barely-functioning elevator processed the command, several Pigmask soldiers were rushing toward the boys.

Jeff drew his Gaia Beam and started firing. Not at point blank, but so they could get those precious extra seconds. The elevator finally closed.

…

"And which floor is this?" Claus asked when the elevator finally finished its descend to the first floors.

"The second one," Ness responded. "We just have to take the stairs, then get to the empty rooms at the lobby."

"Wait, there were stairs, but we took the elevator and risked our lives?" Lucas asked for the sake of curiosity.

"Pretty much. Besides, I doubt the stairs reach the last floors."

It didn't take them much time to get to the lobby. They descended two flights of stairs and reached the lobby. After five minutes of resting, Jeff asked for both keys. He examined the keys one more time. He hoped he was right about the keys use.

Led by Jeff, the boys entered in one of the rooms. "I don't see where we can use the keys, Jeff…" Ness said. "Uhh…Jeff?"

Jeff walked through the room stomping the tiles covering it. "I remember seeing something using a mechanism like this in school…"

"I doubt it will–"

There was a click and Jeff looked up to Ness, who puffed. "Okay, okay, I was wrong."

Jeff walked up to the left wall, where a hardly-seen keyhole appeared; it had the shape of a 'P'. Jeff took out the correct key, but someone interrupted him.

"Are you sure something bad isn't going to happen?" Lucas spoke up. Along with Claus, he was sitting in one of the corners.

"Let's find out!" Jeff shouted as he introduced the key.

Ness, Claus and Lucas squinted, hoping the roof would not fall over them.

Seconds passed, and someone was growing bored. "Nothing happens," Ness said with a monotone voice.

Jeff pondered. What did he do wrong? And it was unlikely that a key used in a hidden room was useless. Something was left to be done. "Of course, the other key."

They headed the other room. Same thing: Jeff stepped in one of the tiles, and a small keyhole appeared on the wall. This time Ness offered to introduce the key, he did it. Everyone waited for a couple seconds until the floor below them rumbled slightly. Ness and Jeff dashed where the twins were, seeking for protection.

One of the tiles seemed to sink on the floor, then another, and another one, until a huge portion of the room was sank leaving a flight of stairs finishing with a metal door.

The boys hesitated for a moment until Jeff was the first one to get to the last step. "Guys, the door is locked."

"Maybe a little magic can fix that." Ness winked and stood in front of the door.

"I'll help ya'," Lucas offered and stood aside Ness. Meanwhile, Claus and Jeff were observing them from the behind.

"PK Rockin'!"

"PK Love!"

Both boys shouted each one of their PSI techniques. As soon as both energies touched the metal door, it blew up. Even though the boys celebrated for a brief moment, the time still ran… They didn't hesitate in entering

"Let's get going!" Lucas said, and then pointed forward.

The four boys ran through the corridor seeking for any signal of life, however, from left to right there was nothing but the walls.

That was until they ran into a dead end, or at least that's what they thought before observing a small squad of Pigmasks coming out from a secret door in the left wall.

Both, the boys and the Pigmask were surprised to bump into each other; nonetheless, this didn't prevent a battle. Jeff drew his Gaia Beam and shot four times… two Pigmask ended on the floor.

Lucas created a shield and crushed another Pigmask against the wall. The last soldier was Claus' job. He took out the thunder sword, and using the shaft, he smashed the Pigmask helmet, in response, the soldier stumbled and Claus finished him with a PSI wave that sent him crashing with the wall.

When he knew that the threat was no longer a threat, Jeff wordlessly walked to examine the wall where the door resided; it was not going to open with a push. "Hey Ness, check those Pigmasks' pockets or something, we need a keycard."

"Keycard? Can't you just push the door?" Ness asked, and Jeff nodded in response. With a shrug, Ness kneeled down and searched for what Jeff told him. He found it with ease. "Here it goes!" Ness said, before throwing the keycard at Jeff.

"But I don't see any place you can use it on…" Lucas opined. Jeff smiled and pointed to the opposite direction of the door, behind Claus, the wall had a strange imperfection. Claus frowned, but he thought pressing that small imperfection was what he was supposed to do. He covered the small area with his whole hand, in the other side with Jeff, appeared a slot where the key card fitted exactly.

The door opened, while Jeff mentally added another problem solved on his head, the other three psychics walked through the doorframe.

"What is this?" It was Ness' first reaction. This room was a corridor as long as the one they just exited from.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

From inside a dark room, she could hear a noise in the distance. The room… no, cage was hardly penetrated by any sound, but she managed to detect that bit noise coming from outside.

"Is that… an alarm?" She asked to herself, with hardly any volume in her voice.

She focused on the noise… it was indeed an alarm. What could've caused it?

The room was in utter darkness, four walls that seemed colorless in the dark, but with light, one of them held a different effect. The wall in one side of the room worked in a similar way to a double sided mirror. "So your friends came for you…" A raspy voice behind the wall commented. "Too bad they are not going to get here alive."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

This corridor they were on looked more sophisticated to the Pigmask's style. Gray walls, with two doors. One of them read 'Vigilance Room'.

They didn't get time to investigate as an alarm already alerted the Pigmasks. Troops of them appeared in the hallway, filling corridor in seconds–which was not small.

"Freeze!" The same Pigmask that commanded the troops in Summers said. He couldn't believe they were still alive, Fragilis didn't have margin of error, and still they were here, in front of him.

"PK Rockin'" Ness didn't take time to responding with words, as he unleashed his deadly attack to the Pigmask that were teeming the corridor.

"Jeff, Lucas, go inside, we'll hold 'em!" Claus shouted over the mess that was going on.

Lucas nodded, and then shoved Jeff inside the vigilance room.

"Wow, this place is full of cameras!"

Jeff rolled his eyes; Lucas had been too much time with Ness… "That's because this is a vigilance room… Maybe we can find a camera leading to Kumatora."

Totally ignoring Jeff's words, Lucas decided to go to the point, "You check those cameras, and I'll check these ones."

There were two groups of televisions, each one covering a huge part of this underground level. Showing labels in the cameras' screens, Lucas could easily decipher which camera was.

Few minutes past before Jeff broke the silence. "Lucas! Come here, I think we got something!"

"Really? Let me see." Lucas got up from his chair and strode across the room to Jeff's side.

What they saw was a diagram of the heat inside the room, since it was all dark, the heat detector was necessary. "It looks like she is in utter darkness. The camera detects the heat."

"Great work, Jeff! But where is she?"

"Hmm, here! She is in the room B eighteen apparently..." Jeff said, aided by the label below that camera's screen.

"B eighteen? Any idea where's that?"

Jeff thought for a brief moment... The noise outside the vigilance room didn't let him think clearly. "I remembered noticing rooms with the letter 'A' in it, perhaps the next we find are the lot 'B'."

Lucas didn't have time to revise Jeff's words, he trusted in him. Now they had to help Claus and Ness, who were waiting outside.

As soon as Lucas opened the door to leave the room a fine gust of wind grazed his forehead. He promptly noticed they were still under attack.

"We must continue forward, we got Kuma's location!" Lucas shouted over the turmoil going on the room.

"Alright, let's do one last push!" Ness responded.

Two powerful lights coated the room. Lucas' PK Love along with Ness' PK Rockin' cleared the corridor, and left several bodies on the floor.

The four boys promptly advanced. They battled one more squad of Pigmasks, before they finally decided to stealth on the next couple of areas.

They entered one more door, this one leading to their destiny… "Wait…" Jeff halted the three psychics. He double-checked the number in the wall to his right and said, "I think this is it!"

"Great!" Lucas exclaimed, "Ness, Claus, she's in the room number eighteen, so you better start searching for–"

"I found it!" Claus called them from the other side of the corridor. Lucas rolled his eyes; his brother was definitely "the finder".

They strode over to the door number B18. Lucas didn't bother in double-checking if it was the exact room. He went straight to their mission. "Claus, can you slash this door with your sword?"

"Probably…" He unsheathed the thunder sword, glanced to his friends, then back to the door. Suddenly, the sword was coated by crackling electricity. He impaled the sword into the door, and from that point he slashed it twice in a cross pattern.

Claus gave a step backwards to do the final blow; however, Jeff decided to support him by shooting to the door remains. After a few shots, the door was gone.

The lights on the corridor shone inside the blackened room, letting the boys see their almost unrecognizable friend.

"Lu... Lucas?"

"Kumatora!" Lucas responded with a smile. He ran up to Kumatora to have a better look of her.

"Geez, what have they done..." Lucas glanced at the strange handcuffs that had Kumatora under control.

"I don't know what this crap is, it won't let me use PSI," Kumatora told Lucas.

"We don't have time for that, we gotta go!" Ness told them from his position in the door. While Claus, Jeff and Lucas were with Kumatora, someone had to check the corridor.

"Right." With that, Claus slashed carefully but precisely the section of the odd structure that didn't let Kumatora move. However, that did nothing to the handcuffs; they stayed in the same place.

Everyone but Lucas exited the room. When he gave the last step out of the room someone shouted from their backs.

"Where you think you are going?" Lucas didn't want to turn back; however, he stole a glance from the speaker.

A robust man came out of the shadows; promptly, Kumatora recognized him as the man who interrogated her.

As if on cue, when he finished talking a bunch of Pigmasks came from the front and behind them.

"Lucas, get up the shields!" Ness shouted. Lucas understood the message. Just as he did in the top floor, he had to raise two shields, and thus the others would do the rest.

This time they didn't have time to settle themselves. Claus was in the front. He was going to lead the escape once again. "PK Thunder!" Using his hands this time, Claus cleaned the path from the first row of Pigmasks. Unfortunately, they were not done; more and more appeared from different passages.

Lucas generated two shields–one in each hand– and covered their friends from the back while they cleared the front… something that didn't look quite possible at the moment.

In a smart decision, Ness generated a PSI guitar; he slammed it in the floor and yelled. "PK Rockin'!"

This form of PK Rockin' wasn't as powerful as the other one, but with this version the waves of PSI were expanded, and at least knocked off several Pigmasks.

With this opportunity they ran, and ran until noticing the exit of the secret passage. They exited the underground base, but not before Lucas put up an ice barrier–a pretty weak one.

They could hear the ice breaking–due to the Pigmasks soldiers' armament–but they were late, the group could now see the natural light coming from outside the building.

They were in the lobby, just a couple more steps and they would be done with this mission.

Suddenly, a white silhouette intercepted them just before crossing the double glass doors. A man with white Pigmask uniform, a white cape, but without the classic helmet halted them.

The group of psychics and Jeff looked in awe at the figure; he was the one that put them into this position just some days ago.

Neyv stood in front of them, cracking his knuckles and without a word he casted a powerful thunder at them.


	11. Our last reunion?

The group sidestepped the thunder in a swift motion.

"Really? I will have to take care of you." Neyv glanced back, "At least while they force that door."

He was right, thought Lucas. As soon as the Pigmasks destroyed the metal door they would be doomed inside their HQ.

Jeff tried shooting at Neyv, but to no avail, he easily dodged each one of the shots.

Lucas leapt forward delivering a PSI Paralysis to nothing but the air. Neyv responded back with a powerful punch sending Lucas to the floor.

"Get out, guys, I'll get Lucas. Get ready to teleport us back, Ness," Claus said as he ran to aid his brother.

"Claus…" Ness muttered. He didn't like the idea. He led Jeff and Kumatora out, however. They glanced around looking for enemies in the streets, but no one was near.

"PK Thunder!" Claus shot out a thunder from his sword. Neyv received the full power of it taking little to no damage.

Claus knew that very well. Neyv seemed to have a quite good control over electricity, but it was no more than a distraction to help Lucas.

"Let's get out." Lucas nodded standing up.

The sound of crackling electricity echoed in their ears as they turned around to run away. Suddenly, the thunder went free and towards the twins. Claus spun around, and raised the thunder sword to block Neyv's. To his surprise it worked, creating a small explosion followed by Neyv's attack bouncing to a random direction.

Lucas decided to back up Claus as well. "PK Love!" The white light filled the room, giving enough time to both twins to leave the building.

From outside the effect of PK Love was easily noticed. The lobby was destroyed and the hall way from the secret door to the lobby was a bunch of debris.

The twins had no time to spend it at watching PK Love's result as Ness called them from the other side of the street. "Hurry up."

In that moment their problems came back in the form of Neyv exiting the destroyed building, his uniform slightly tattered.

"He didn't take PK Love completely," Claus said before releasing another thunder in Neyv's direction.

"That won't work, don't you understand?" Neyv's hand got coated in electricity and he attempted to launch it against the red-haired twin. To his misfortune, Lucas had already moved.

Neyv's body was paralyzed by Lucas' touch.

Claus could finish Neyv up, but the sound of countless steps sounded inside the lobby… the door was breached.

Lucas and Claus ran across the street catching up to the other 3. Ness motioned everyone to quickly grab hands, and they did. They started trotting, and then began running, every second faster

Ness knew the portal would open at anytime, that's why he was caught by surprise when someone blocked his path. Ness couldn't risk his friends' safety evading this person and restarting his Teleport… He continued hoping they would enter the portal before crashing with the mysterious entity.

Quickly, he regretted his decision. The person took out what looked exactly the same as Claus' sword. He pointed it in front of him, in the group's direction and shot.

With widening eyes, Ness skidded to a halt as he jerked his right arm–which was grabbing Jeff's hand–causing a large chain of people falling to the ground.

The thunder ran in front of everyone's eyes, thanking Ness for saving them.

"What the hell was that…?" Claus, at the end of the line, thought. From the ground, he raised his head to look at the causer of this.

He gasped not believing what was reflected on his eyes… I-It is impossible… His counterpart, the way he lived as for 3 long–and seemingly endless–years. Claus couldn't still move. The fear of looking at himself was unexplainable… How?

He started walking towards the closest one, and that one was Ness, who still lay on the ground. Ness was slightly hurt, but still looked at the person in front of him.

"That can't be," Lucas muttered. Ness didn't know who he was, he wouldn't know what could happen if he didn't move.

The time moved slowly as the person walked towards Ness, each step bringing fear.

"The commander… is that another Claus…?" Kumatora said as she laid eyes on the masked figure in front of Ness. She knew that the commander was Claus… But Claus was with them. She glanced back and saw Claus still lying on the ground looking at his devilish counterpart. It couldn't mean anything good.

The Commander gave one last step before halting. He raised his sword high above his head preparing to strike a powerful thunder on Ness.

"Move!" Lucas screamed from the top of his lungs.

However, Ness was too far to be helped by Lucas or Claus.

Ness froze, not even moving a finger. Kumatora rose, but she didn't find the time to help Ness, either. It seemed that it could be a painful goodbye for Ness… In a swift motion, Jeff drew his gun, then fired his last shot.

The Commander parried with ease and speed, successfully blocking the energy blast, and more important: giving Ness an opportunity to escape.

He crawled back, slowly rising.

The Commander's target changed. He noticed Ness moving away rather quickly, and on the other side, not too far, stood Jeff with his empty gun.

The Commander sprinted forward giving momentum to the next thunder that left his sword. Jeff froze watching how the yellow glint traveling through the air. Kumatora, who was aside Jeff, pushed him using her leg, leaving Jeff on the ground, but alive.

They were all scattered with Ness trying to catch up to the rest, Kumatora PSI-less–thanks to the handcuffs she still had, along with Jeff; and the twins far from the rest as well.

Lucas had to leave the questions behind… He got up knowing full well that in any moment Ness would use his PSI Teleport. "PK Love!" he shouted from deep inside him bringing out a gamma level PK Love targeting the Commander.

Ness got the time he needed. As the PK Love collided in the zone not far from him, he raised a hand to his forehead readying Teleport.

The whole group noticed Ness coming rather quickly. Everyone ran towards Ness, successfully grabbing his hand in the last moment before the blue and black portal opened. Leaving a fire trail behind, the Commander was left alone after dodging that last PK Love he could only observe how the guys and Kumatora escaped… He wanted the eight Needle location… he needed it, and he was going to get it.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

A small sound wave hit some trees around Andonut's lab in Nowhere Islands. A black sphere appeared on the center of the sound wave, and expanded creating a big portal where Ness, Jeff, Kumatora, Lucas and Claus emerged from, stumbling as they landed on the ground in a rough manner.

"My body aches…" Ness was the first to speak. Still on the ground he looked up to the sky, it was still cloudy.

"Claus… t-the commander; it was you," Lucas said terrified from what he looked. The same darn question remained: how?

"I know, but I'm obviously here, and I was there as well, trying to kill us."

That's right! Ness thought. That person wearing the black and orange military outfit was Claus some years ago. In that case why does he was there? Was that really what Lucas fought and couldn't beat back then? He said Claus committed suicide because his power was too much for even himself to handle.

"You're back!" a familiar voice came from the opening doors of the lab.

It was Paula, who was running towards them, along with Poo and Duster. Her face showed concern when she noticed the several wounds and scratches everyone sported.

"What happened!" Duster asked.

Kumatora saw how the twins were speechless (something she didn't blame them for, not after the shock everyone got with the Commander's return) so she decided to spoke up. "We bumped into someone."

"And who was that?" Poo asked.

"The Commander of the Pigmask."

"What!" Duster spurted with surprise. He knew what that meant, they all knew the story too well.

"Wait, so they controlled Claus again?" Duster didn't get the issue perfectly.

"No, he was like a clone… I don't know. Claus was with us, and this guy suddenly appeared…"

"He overpowered every one of us…" Claus spoke for the first time since their arrival. "That's why I had to… do that to myself back in the last Needle," he said, his voice slightly raising with each word. "The power was too much for any one to handle. He is quite strong… We must get to the last Magypsy before him.

"Come on," Paula said helping Ness standing up. "We shall get inside and talk this more relaxed."

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

The group reunited in a small area of the laboratory where the employees could hang out, it was like a small department.

"I still don't understand… If Claus is here, how he attacked you?" Paula, who was sitting with Ness–and the others–on a table, tried figuring out what happened back in Fourside, but of course, Ness was as clueless as the others.

"That's what we are saying," Claus entered, "don't you understand?" He was clearly starting to lose his patience.

"Ah, Kumatora, I think you should get some rest… You were there for quite some time," Lucas whispered to his friend.

Kumatora had her handcuffs already removed, and so she headed to the kitchen wordless to Lucas' words.

"I know this is important. And more for you," Poo pointed at the twins. "But while we were away we got some important information about that last Needle."

Poo was right, it was important for Claus and Lucas to find out more about the "Claus" they saw at Fourside, however, when they heard the word 'needle' their moods changed completely wanting to know more.

"Really?"

"Yeah, tell them, Duster."

"When we teleported we ended up in some kind of rainy wasteland…"

"Which was actually Dusty Dunes," Paula said with slight surprise in her voice… After all, what was rain doing on a desert?

"Well, after crossing that desert we arrived to a city. How it was called? Summers? This place was totally on ice, everything was literally frozen–"

"Wait!" Ness interrupted. "We were there as well, how it comes we didn't see you?"

"Maybe our timings were a little off… Anyway, the case is that when we were around shore I noticed a strange purple shell."

"Like where the Magypsies live?"

"Exactly, it had a broken bridge, and I would have investigated but we concerned about your location."

"That is the best clue we have about the Needle."

"The best would be if you kids rest for what is left of today," Andonuts said as he exited the kitchen. "Kumatora fell asleep on the kitchen, so you all should do the same."

"Sleep in the kitchen?" Ness asked with a hint of humor in his voice.

"Come on, help me move Kumatora, then I'll show you the rooms."

Everyone got up from the table to get ready and go sleep. Someone didn't follow them, though. It was Claus, who couldn't help but wonder what his old puppet counterpart was doing in this world. The Pigmask commander was supposed to be gone along with that horrible part of his life.

After some Andonut's words, Claus finally decided to go to bed, not to sleep, though. He sat idly in his bed, cross-legged remembering the images of earlier; how everyone froze in front of _him_, the Commander.

A weak, barely audibly knock broke his flashback.

"It's me, Claus."

Said person knew who it was… Lucas, the one that always cared for him. "Come in," he replied.

Lucas walked in barefoot, cautiously closing the door behind him. He took a seat aside his brother. "Ya'know, you should sleep, tomorrow will be a long day," he spoke, then waited for a response from the–oddly–silent Claus.

"I just can't get it."

"Yeah, I was shocked when I saw you… him…"

"B-But… Luke you saw how powerful he was. What if we have to face him again?"

"We will have to fight this time; be prepared. Apparently, the Pigmask were not farther than us from the last Needle location."

"That's true. Also… how you think dad and mom are doing?"

"I hope they are okay… After what happened to Boney, I can't h-help but think about them."

"It's hard to watch Boney like that. I wonder if we'll see him again."

"Take that for sure."

Lucas could only watch how with every second going the conversation turned into a mix of emotions for his brother. Claus was still confused, sad, stressed…

"Well, you should leave that behind and sleep now," Lucas said, reassuring his brother with a pat on his back.

"I hope I can sleep…"

"Good night, bro, sleep well."

"Same you, Luke."

Only after Lucas saw Claus lay down on the bed, he left, closing the door behind him. Claus saw his brother exiting the room, leaving him lonely, with no more than memories of earlier that day.

Before following his own suggestion and go to bed, Lucas remembered he still didn't know how Kumatora was doing. He didn't know yet what happened in that Pigmask base.

He walked with a rather quick pace around the lab until finding the room where Kumatora resided.

The door was opened, and Lucas entered casually. "Hello."

"Lucas, hey!" Kumatora said. The handcuffs were taken off her, but they left marks on her wrists. Drips of blood were coming out as she hovered her right hand over the right one. Nothing happened, though.

"What's the matter?"

"I can't use PSI…"

Lucas' eyes widened. He pondered for a moment if the strange effect of the handcuffs still was over Kumatora, or it simply took Kumatora's PSI away.

"In that case let me help you… M-Maybe is just momentary." Lucas grabbed her right hand. Soon it was coated in a green light, which slowly dissipated the wound. He did the same with the left hand.

"Yeah… Yeah, it must be the handcuffs. I used them for so long that their effect stayed on me."

"Do you need anything else…" Lucas yawned. "before I go to sleep?"

"I will be okay, Lucas!" She responded back with a smirk. "I'm sure tomorrow I will have my PSI back; I'm tired, so that should be the cause."

"A'right. See ya tomorrow."

"Sleep well."

Lucas walked tiredly towards his room. He didn't know what to expect for tomorrow… It was the correct choice to go and search for that Needle? Wouldn't the Pigmask be there already? What if they had already ki… No. He had to stay with his hopes up. He was going to need more than hope, though.

And what about Boney or the commander… Perhaps, they couldn't beat them before. Ice is Boney's weakness– Oh! How he hated to even think of harm his dog, it was just not right. However, did the commander even have a weakness?

He opened the door and entered in his room, taking his shoes off, he flopped in the bed. He was too tired to change his clothes. There was much to do and little time to do it.

He was tired, but his mind didn't want to sleep, he knew he had to figure a way to beat his brother's counterpart. Hmm, electricity seemed to cause a number on him. He discovered that when he fought Claus at the sixth Needle location.

Maybe with Claus, Kumatora, and Ness' friends–who can use electricity–they could have a better chance that what he time ago.

Still, there was much more to prepare before giving one last push and get the last Needle. His family. He wanted to make sure they were still in a safe location.

That's it. Tomorrow they were not going to go back to Summers, but they will go to Tazmily, maybe even to the others' home. Family comes first… Well, the Earth's safety comes first since without Earth there's no family. Lucas shook his head at the silly thought.

One more day. It shouldn't harm anyone, right?

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

Lucas had set up an alarm in the clock sitting in the opposite side of his bed. 7:00 that's it. He knew most of them would whine about the hour, but it was for their sake.

"Thinking again… Another half hour won't harm me…" And half an hour was not it…

"Lucas… Lucas…" the low and soft voice of Claus' ran through Lucas' ears.

Lucas opened his eyes slowly being his brother's face the first thing he saw.

"Slept well, bear?"

"Bear?"

"Well, yeah, I thought you were hibernating. It's already one-thirty."

"One… One-thirty," Lucas muttered, still not getting the message completely as he had not awoken fully. "Wait, what!"

"Exactly."

Lucas put a hand on his forehead. Half an hour… of course. Hopefully, with this little delay they would still be able to do what Lucas thought was necessary.

"Jeez, Claus, why did you have to wake me up so late?"

"Take it easy, we heard there's a huge snow storm going on Summers. We can wait another day."

"That's the problem," Lucas said, sitting up to get his shoes. "I wanted to visit dad and mom, and if they want we can visit Ness' family, or Paula's, I don't know. I guess it would be good to know everyone is safe before we are totally focused on the Needle."

"Oh, yeah obviously I knew that. I'll tell everyone."

Lucas nodded. At least that was done for now. Frantically, he glanced at the clock each few seconds. They still had time, not as much as he wanted, but probably enough.

After a few minutes, Claus had explained the situation; everyone seemed to be okay with it. Ness and Paula wanted to see their respective parents, too.

Lucas arrived to the small living room where everyone was. "Ready to go?" Ness asked him.

"Sure, as soon as possible would be good. Remember, this is mos–"

"You don' worry, Claus told us."

"So where are we going first?" Paula asked.

"Well, our houses are the nearest ones, we should start there."

The whole group nodded in unison.

After saying their goodbyes to Dr. Andonuts they reunited at the front of the laboratory. The plan was the same as the last time: make two groups and they were going to teleport to the same place. However, this time they were more careful, preparing themselves for another strangeness that could happen.

"OK, we are going to gather at the boundaries of Tazmily, in the case you or us get lost we will teleport back here," Ness called to the other side, where Poo was receiving instructions.

"A'right, let's go!"

This time, the sun shined upon their faces. The black and grey clouds of storm had gone away, revealing a nice sun that, frankly some of them missed.

Seconds passed until a black sphere appeared in the boundaries of the Tazmily village. Just after that it transformed into a bigger sphere, which finally opened and let Ness' group arrive. Seconds later Poo's group arrived as well.

Everyone gathered in a circle to decide their first destination. "Where to first?" Paula asked.

"Hmm, I think Claus and I will have to search for our parents around here, and I do not know if you will see you dad, Duster."

"It would be good to at least pass and say hi. Maybe I can go there while you take the others to look for your parents."

"That's okay, when you are done come to Yado Inn, our parents should be there."

"Okay, see you then," Duster said before leaving.

The whole group consisting of the chosen four and Lucas' party–with the exception of Duster–walked for a couple of minutes until they arrived at the street of the Yado Inn, which now was more like an hotel.

"Hmm, I don't know how much we'll take, but I promise it will be fast, besides, our schedule is kinda tight," Claus said, facing the group.

"And what do we do in the meantime?" Ness asked. Lucas and Claus thought for a second. They could always enter and wait in the reception.

"Take a sit inside," Lucas motioned to the reception as he and Claus entered through the crystal doors.

The twins entered into the building, looking around they were still a bit confused with all this remodeling added to the town, which was now a small city. However, it didn't matter what happened to this place, there was going to be always a specific person running it.

"Hey, Tessie, have you see our parents?" Lucas asked with a small smile.

The kindhearted woman was surprised to see those two finally. "Lucas, Claus, how are you doing?"

Claus doubted for a moment. Was he doing well? Well, yeah… if he didn't consider the chimeras, the Pigmasks or the possible end of the world. "Very good, thanks Tessie."

She smiled before giving the twins the answer to the first question. "Great. Your parents are on the second floor, third room."

"Thanks, Tessie, see ya later." Claus waved his hand, followed by Lucas.

The two walked up to the third room just as Tessie told them. Lucas knocked the door loudly, finding himself excited to see his parents again… It felt as it had been months since their last visit.

"Coming!" The twins heard the sweet voice their mom on the other side of the door. She grabbed the knob then turned it, only to reveal two look-alike brothers with huge smiles on their faces.

Hinawa received an unexpected hug by the two boys.

"Claus… Lucas, are you finally back, sons?"

Lucas' smile faded turning into a more serious face. "We only wanted to pass by and tell you something."

"Oh… okay," she responded, slightly disappointed.

"And dad? Is he in here?" Claus asked, noticing the lack of the bald man.

Hinawa sighed. "He is building a new house. Several people are helping him, fortunately."

"Oh… yeah." Lucas' memory went back to the moment they saw the house destroyed. He remembered Boney. The memories dissipated quickly as Hinawa spoke again.

"Are you going to visit your dad?"

"Sure we are. We want to tell him something before we do the final step," Claus responded full of certitude.

"Final step?"

"Exactly, we have a possible location of the last Needle, it's a little far from here," this time Lucas replied.

"I see. Well, in that case I think I should go with you."

"Awesome! Let's go."

Hinawa and the two boys calmly walked through the hallways until arriving to the lobby where the whole group was waiting a bit impatiently.

"You met new friends, good," she said.

"Guys, she is my mom," Lucas said, then pointed to Hinawa.

"And mom… Ness," Claus said pointing to Ness. "Paula, Poo and Jeff." Claus showed each one respectively. Hinawa nodded.

"Nice to meet ya," she said.

"Likewise," the chosen ones responded in unison.

Even though Lucas knew their schedule was tight, he took the time to not hurry his mom. After all, he didn't want to accept it but he didn't know when he was going to see her again, or even if he was.

When everyone walked through the path that led to the twins' house, Claus spotted from the distance the foundations of their new home. He spotted his dad as well.

"Hey!" Flint shouted when he noticed his sons approaching. He descended the ladder he was on and half-ran towards them.

"Dad!" the two twins hugged Flint, the latter one returning the hug.

The chosen ones chatted among themselves while Lucas was having his reunion. They knew that at this rate they would be getting to Andonut's lab later than expected.

Lucas was speaking to his father, when Claus noticed Ness a bit thoughtful.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Well, not exactly wrong. But I figured you would like to spend this time with your family without hurrying."

"Ah, yeah."

"I told the others if they wanted to go to Eagleland, in that way Paula, Poo, Jeff and I would do our stuff and at the end of the day we can gather somewhere else."

Claus put his hand in his chin for a moment. "Luke, come here!"

"Wait a moment," Lucas told his parents before walking up to Claus.

"Hey, Ness wants to anticipate and go to Eagleland with Paula, Poo and Jeff, so that by the end of the day we are prepared for tomorrow." Lucas took a moment to ponder this. And Claus added, "I think is a good idea."

"Yeah, you should go."

Ness smirked. "Alright! We'll see at Andonuts', okay?"

"Okay."

The chosen ones formed a line and after saying 'goodbye'–for now–they teleported away, leaving a fire trail in their path.

The persons–along with Hinawa and Flint–working on the house watched with their mouth agape, until Lucas explained them what just happened. They all could just nod.

Around 3 in the afternoon Hinawa had bought food and prepared a small lunch for everyone working on the construction, including the twins and Kumatora.

The twins' family and Kumatora were sitting some feet away the rest of the people.

"So, how is everything going?" Flint asked between bites.

"I wouldn't say fine or bad. Is just that we don't know what will happen next…" Lucas responded looking to the ground.

"Yeah… Also, we came to warn you…" Claus started. "We'll be approaching the last Needle if we're lucky tomorrow. The problem is that we don't want this–" he pointed to the house in construction. " –to happen again."

"What Claus said. We would like you to take any necessary security measures."

"We will. You don't have to worry about us, but the other way around," Hinawa flashed her characteristic smile to the twins and Kumatora even.

Kumatora responded with a small smirk. She wasn't on the conversation completely. As important as it seemed, she felt strange. Does she needed to worry about the Magypsies anymore. Did they care about her? She didn't know, and that made her feel so lonely. Was she fighting for someone?

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"And you are only staying today, Ness?"

"Not the whole day, just a couple hours."

After leaving Paula, Ness arrived at his house not much later. He was sitting along with his mom and Tracy in the kitchen table.

"Why, brother? You said this was not going to take too much time," Tracy said.

Ness looked at her. He would've liked to be back already. "I know, but we are taking this slowly. We don't know how dangerous the zone where the last Needle will be." By that time, Ness had already explained everything to her mom and Tracy.

"Oh, Ness, we miss you so much…" her mom said with a tone of concern.

"And I miss you too." He smiled.

"Bad luck your dad was here yesterday, all day long, and you just came today," Ness' mom said, then added. "He's expecting you to tell us everything when you're done."

"Yeah, brother. Your stories are always good," Tracy complemented.

Ness continued eating his favorite meal: steak. Her mom and Tracy kept talking as he entered in thought. He should warn them. "Mom," he said before swallowing some steak. "Remember Lucas?"

She nodded. "What's with him?"

"Some days ago his house was demolished by the Pigmask army. They took his dog, but thankfully his family escaped."

Her mom brought her hands to her mouth. "That's horrible…"

"It is. That's why I want you to be secured while I'm gone. I don't know what the Pigmask may do next."

"You are ri–"

Tracy interrupted her mom. There was still something extra for Ness he didn't know about. "Before leaving don't you wanna eat this piece of cake?"

He had to accept it, sometimes her sister drive him crazy, but most of the times she is a sweet as the delicious cake in front of his eyes. "Thanks, sis."

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

After leaving Ness and Paula at Twoson, Poo had teleported to Dalaam. He knew Dalaam was the safest place now possibly; nonetheless he wanted to know how everything was doing.

As usual he was received by most of the females his age, people from the town bowing to him, and his parents.

"Prince Poo, what a surprise!" his father exclaimed.

"Hello father." Poo bowed in front of the man. "And mother."

"You told us you were staying with Ness for a couple of weeks for training. It's a pleasant surprise to have you here," her mother said.

"I thought the same," he said. "However, something appeared out of nowhere. We met a group of PSI-users, who needed our help and we offered."

"Very well, my son," his mother said.

"Also," Poo said. "The enemy we are coping with is a very strong army that comes from the place these PSI-users live, apparently. And they have already attacked one of the psychic's family, so I would like to be sure you will take any necessary measure to keep Dalaam secure."

"Thanks for the warning, prince. Don't doubt we will have that in mind," the king responded with an air of confidence.

"Poo, if I may ask, who that enemy you talk about is?" the queen asked.

"It's kind of a long history…"

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

After watching Poo teleporting away and Ness walking towards his home in Onett, Paula walked towards the door of her house.

With a sigh, she knocked twice.

"Coming," the familiar voice that was Mr. Polestar responded.

He opened the door only to meet her precious daughter at the door.

He yelped in surprise. "Paula!" In that moment she was held with such strength she took a deep breath when the man let her go.

"I'm also glad of seeing you, dad."

"C-come in, come in," Mr. Polestar said. "Sweetie, guess who's come back."

"Who is it?" Mrs. Polestar asked as she entered the daycare's living room. "Oh my… Paula!" And just as her dad, her mom embraced Paula as well.

Mrs. Polestar held Paula by slightly touching Paula's shoulders with each of her own hands. "Are you finally back?" she asked with such happiness that Paula almost felt bad for the oncoming answer.

"Ah… I-I have not, mom."

"What!" both of her parents cried at the same time. Paula cringed at this.

"Yeah… We had this day…" She searched for the correct word. "free and I wanted to pass by."

"That's too bad, Paula. Every kid in the school misses you," Mr. Polestar said.

Paula gave off a small smile at his words. "Trust me, if it was for me I would stay but right now my place is not here."

Her mom sighed. "In that case, you just came to say hello or…"

"For that and to suggest you to be alert of any unusual activity in the surroundings–"

Her dad suddenly cut her. "Unusual activity."

"Yeah," Paula continued. "Some days ago we met some people that were in the sought of something they call Needles. The case is that there is this army that comes from the Islands these people come from, and they have already attacked of their houses."

Mr. Polestar exhaled. Why this always happened to her little treasure? "Paula, are you sure you should continue with this?"

"Totally, dad," she responded without a second thought. "But I wanted to come and tell you to be in the watch out for any of that army's suspicious activity. They have already been in Fourside, Summers… those cities wound up deserted somehow."

"Oh… t-thanks, but can't you stay what's left of the day?" Deep inside, Mr. Polestar knew what was going to be the answer but he couldn't help it. Imagining her little girl in danger.

"Sorry, dad, no I can't. And don't worry, if you are thinking about my safety that will be totally ok, I'm surrounded by very good people."

"Well, at least you have your friends with you," Mrs. Polestar said, pretty much accepting her girl's fate.

"I'm glad you understand and care at the same time." Paula put emotion on the next words. "I love you so much."

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX**

The twins' parents were setting up at the hotel, while Lucas, Claus and Kumatora were enjoying their last minutes–possibly an hour–of relaxing.

It was near eight o' clock and their meeting time was closing up. The great day was coming and they were not excited for it.

The three psychics had their doubts and worries. Like Kumatora. She wondered if she was going to be able to meet the last Magypsie and for how much time. After all, at the moment Lucas or Claus pull that Needle she will vanish… and hopefully Ionia and the others will come back. In any case she didn't want to feel so lonely anymore.

"Are you ready, Luke?" Kumatora asked. "We should be leaving by now."

Lucas nodded. "I know. I will say my farewells…" He turned around to head to his parent's room –where Claus were. "Are you coming?"

"Excuse me?"

"My parents think you are a nice person and they are glad you are around Claus and me… At least say them goodbye."

She smiled as the emotion flooded inside her. What was she thinking? She wasn't alone. There were people watching her back at all times and caring for her safety. No, she definitely wasn't alone. "I'm coming."

"I'll keep an eye for anything strange just as you said," the twin's father said.

Hinawa, finishing her glass with water she walked out of the hotel room's kitchen to look at her twins with sad eyes. "Everyone will wait for you to come back, hopefully with an amazing story to tell…" she took a moment. "Please, please be careful."

The farewell was like that for the past half an hour. Neither, the heroes or the parents wanted to say goodbye to the other.

This time the three heroes muttered some words as a response. Claus flashed an smile to her mother. "This will be done before you even notice it!" he exclaimed with his voice full of spirit.

The three heroes stepped out of the hotel. The air was filled with silence until…

A flash crossed their line of view, then it was followed by a fire trail. Ness materialized from thin air and took a deep breath before speaking. "Phew… What?" he asked noticing the twins and Kumatora's frown. "I figured you would be done by this time, so why not a ride back to Andonuts'."


	12. Shell House

A small black and blue, swirling ball generated in front of Dr. Andonuts' ex-chimera lab. It expanded, creating an opening for the 4 heroes to arrive followed by a trail of fire.

"That always makes me dizzy..." Claus said, recovering from the blurry vision Teleporting caused him.

"You will get used. Trust me," Ness reassured.

"Are the others here already?" Lucas asked.

"Yes, with the exception of Duster, whom Poo went to pick up."

"Good–" Lucas couldn't finish his words, as a powerful wind entered the area. An instant later Poo and Duster came out from a portal.

"Just in time," Claus said. He approached the other two and greeted them.

"Now that we're all here let's go inside and make the best of the time we have left." Lucas was the first to enter the lab.

"That sounds a bit creepy, you know," Ness whispered to Claus.

The people from Nowhere were greeted in sight by Jeff and Paula, and later by Andonuts, who joined them all on the common room.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?" Dr. Andonuts broke the silence.

"That is something one can't be ready for, Dr." Poo replied without hesitating.

"I know, I know, but I just want to think everything will go fine."

Claus sighed, getting everyone's attention. "At least are we sure the Needle is located near Summers?"

"No, we don't," Kumatora started. "Aside from the possible Magypsy location, we have nothing."

"And…" Jeff knew this was a sensible topic for the twins. "Do we already have a plan to use against… Claus' clone."

Claus was visibly troubled when the topic was brought up. Nonetheless, he said nothing.

Since his brother was silent, Lucas decided to talk, "Well, strangely enough the Commander's–"

"Wait, the Commander?" Poo asked.

Dusted picked up the question this time, "Back in the day, Claus used to be the Commander of the Pigmask Army, the ones who wants to find the Needle, and that's why we call his clone like that."

"I resume," Lucas said, waited until he got the attention back, and proceeded. "Claus used to be weak against electricity, I suppose it's due to his body being part machine and the electricity made short circuit or something…"

"Yeah, that sounds probable," Jeff added.

"Okay, but what about Boney? Remember?" Ness asked, having in mind what Boney means for the twins, and even for Duster and Kumatora.

Lucas was instantly hit by the memory; his shoulders were overwhelmed by the mental image of his dog, now a chimera. "I found out he is weak to ice. It takes a lot, though."

"Hey, doctor, what happened to that chimera Kumatora brought a couple of days ago?" Claus asked. He wasn't sure if he wanted the answer, but if it involved a possible hope for his dog, he had to risk it.

"The chimera is still under supervision," Andonuts started. "I was able to remove its 'orders'–"

"The orders?" Jeff asked.

"A group of codes inserted into a chip inside the chimera," the scientist responded. "However, I didn't notice that certain codes in the group had a great importance for the chimera's survival."

"And that means…" Claus said, expecting the doctor to continue.

"I can only wait and see how the chimera's body reacts. Although, I hate to say it, the chimera doesn't seem to have a good chance of survival."

The twins, Kumatora and Duster didn't take the information nicely. For the twins it meant a very low probability of saving Boney… in the case Boney didn't finish them off first, of course.

The air in the room was tense, so Kumatora decided to change into another important topic. "And Neyv… He will be a problem as well."

"He will probably be where the rest of the army is. Besides, I doubt Neyv is their only PSI-user," Paula said.

Ness yawned. "There's still much to arrange, and I am tired. Can't we do this tomorrow?"

"Well, I thought the plan was to go to sleep and tomorrow at first hour depart to Summers," Andonuts said.

"Unfortunately, that's the best we can do now."

Kumatora knew the why of "unfortunately", Lucas just wanted this to end–and so did the others–and having to wait a few more hours was painful. After all, just like Ness she needed sleep as well. Kumatora raised her hand just above her head. "I'm with Ness, for now we should try to sleep and tomorrow we can tie any loose end."

Dr. Andonuts clapped once, forcing a brief smile. "I rearranged four rooms just for you; there are bathrooms in each one, if any of you wish to use them. Sleep well," he finished.

It seemed like an abrupt way of finishing their "top priority meeting", that's what Claus thought. He, however, knew that the topic about his clone was going to be a huge part of their meeting, and he wanted to forget about that… at least for the few hours before they departed towards Summers.

Strangely enough, the twins decided to sleep in different rooms, not because they didn't want to be with the other but because Claus knew Duster better, while Lucas got along with Kumatora better than his brother. And for Kumatora it served as an excuse to be like herself. She told Lucas about the fear she had for being lonely (Lucas doubted for a second if it was real: Kumatora fearing something; but, indeed it was real).

"I-I don't know what to expect Luke," she said. "This last Magypsy will have a countdown on her life as soon as we meet her."

Lucas listened, recording each detail of her words. "Well…" he needed to think on the correct words for this situation. The scenario, however, just left him with the typical words. "You know you will have us, Kumatora. Not only Duster and I, but Claus, Mr. Wester, my parents… the whole town. And I can only tell that I will do all that is within my reach to make sure you don't feel like this anymore."

"I know you will, Lucas." She looked straight in his eyes, as if disapproving something. "You always put yourself after the people around you."

Indeed, just like Lucas thought, his words weren't the most reassuring. Still, she was thankful, and that was what mattered. Thankful for having Lucas as a friend.

"Don't worry," Lucas said, approaching Kumatora and placing a hand on her shoulder. "We'll make it through this, and everything will be back to normal. You will not be lonely anymore."

Ness had thought that once his body touched the mattress his eyes would instantly close. Unfortunately, he was wrong. He rolled over, threw the sheets to the floor and changed position several times, but he couldn't get himself to sleep.

"Lucky girl," he whispered to himself, as he watched Paula sleeping on the other side of the room. He noticed if he actually stopped making noise, Paula's breathing was the only sound on the room. An almost silent and calm breathing, he thought.

"Are you sleeping?" Ness heard Paula's voice through the darkness of the room.

"I thought you were," he replied.

"With all the noise you're doing it's quite hard," she said, and then her tone turned serious. "Besides, with that army almost knocking on the door I can't even relax."

"I know," Ness sighed.

She could hear the tension on Ness' words. She sat up and said. "Hopefully you won't mind this…"

"Ah…?" he wondered what she meant. He didn't have more than a couple of seconds to think, since Paula had used PSI Hypnosis on him.

After everyone had left the common room Dr. Andonuts switched off every light and headed to his room. He sat in his bed, feet on the floor.

His conscience had not overcome the guilt he felt. He told the twins the kangaroo-shark chimera that they brought were still alive. It was not, however. He spent countless hours, reviewing past experiences with chimeras, and how the process of creating them was. He tried following his process backwards to hopefully save the creature's mind from Porky, at least. It worked for a few hours… after that, the chimera's body started failing. It was going to be a slow death. Dr. Andonuts decided to put an end to the poor creature, however.

After the chimera's body was altered to endure and survive with machine parts on it, there wasn't a way to release it and let it live like before. Andonuts did delete the group of codes that had Porky's orders on them. But just like he said, that group contained precious codes to keep the chimera alive. That, along with certain machine parts was what caused the chimera's death.

He recalled something, and a thought bothered him. He switched on the lamp on the night table, and took a journal, where he kept vital information from his projects. Andonuts noticed that at some point on the deletion of specific core codes, he had doubts about the function of one of them. He deleted it, nonetheless…

"Could that be what killed seven-b?" Seven-b was the unique code with which a Kangashark was identified inside the group of scientist that worked on the chimeras.

Maybe… If he could ever lay hands of Boney, he could cure him. If he could cure Boney, he could cure any other chimera. That was if the entire world didn't die before.

Lucas heard a knock on his door. He didn't want to respond to it, not even open his eyes. There was something wrong, though. A light was entering the room. "Morning already?" he asked himself.

"Lucas! It's time to go, hurry!" The voice came from Claus on the other side of the door.

Lucas sat up and stretched. He looked to his left, Kumatora was fast asleep. He sighed; he was going to have to wake her up. "I see you in five, Claus!" he called back.

Lucas heard Claus' steps fading, until he was gone.

He threw a pillow to Kumatora's head. "Time to get up, princess."

She grunted, "Alright…"

Lucas got up from the bed and headed to the bathroom. He stripped his pajama, and took a 2 minute bath just to wake up completely. He exited the bathroom and glanced at Kumatora. "Come on, we need every minute!"

She was sitting in the bed, trying to overcome her tiredness. "I know. Go with the others, I see you there."

Lucas left the room without replying. He ran down the hall until he arrived to the common room, where everyone else was either eating breakfast or just talking.

"Ready, Luke?" Ness asked; his words barely understandable since he had his mouth filled with cereal.

"We only have to wait for Kumatora and we're ready to go."

A minute later she entered the common room… jumping on one foot, as she put on her left boot. "You're getting too relaxed, ladies, let's go."

Everyone agreed, and exited the laboratory. "Good luck. I'll see you soon," Dr Andonuts said, as the heroes formed two lines.

Every hero responded with a 'see you later' or a simple nod. They formed two lines. In the one that led Ness, Jeff, Paula, and Claus were with him. In the second line, which was led by Poo, were Lucas, Kumatora and Duster.

"We'll meet at Summers' boundaries," Ness told Poo.

The prince nodded. The two PSI Teleport-wielders were ready. They warned the integrants of their lines and started running.

The heroes traveled inside an alternate space for an instant before they arrived where an ice-coated sign stood. WELCOME TO SUMMERS, it read.

Still dizzy, Lucas took the lead and said, "Let's go."

They walked 200 meters from the sign to Summer's entrance. They traveled between the largest buildings they could find.

The streets continued to be empty. They didn't want to risk the element of surprise, though, at any moment a Pigmask soldier could come out from nowhere.

Suddenly, they halted; a wide street was in front of them. It was empty, but they could smell the danger.

"I will get to the top of those buildings, when I see it's safe to cross, I tell you," Poo said.

Ness nodded, "Go."

The heroes took cover in the shadows of an alley, while Poo dashed upstairs through eight floors of abandoned apartments. When he reached the last floor, he exited to the rooftop, and crouch-walked across it.

Careful he couldn't be seen from other building, Poo inspected the street first. He spotted a handful of war vehicles and soldiers, but they were four or five streets farther.

"Alright…" he muttered, recording in his mind exactly what he saw.

His eyes shifted from the streets to the rooftops that shadowed nearby streets as if they were clouds. Poo's eyes swept the area. From left to right he carefully inspected the rooftops until his eyes froze on a rooftop at his three o' clock.

A winged beast stood in its two mole-like legs. It was the last adjective what confused Poo. The beast was coated with what looked like its own wings… two wings that possibly belonged to a bat. He couldn't make out what exactly the strange creature was, though, since his head was sheltered inside his wings, with the exception of his ears, which perked out.

Poo backed up carefully, turned around and began his way down the apartment. It was important to let the others know about the beast–or chimera, as he remembered they were called. He recalled the bat are like a living radar, so if they moved in the wrong direction, the chimera could possibly alert every soldier in the area. Also, the mole is known for having an excellent sense of hearing. He knew they were not going to go anywhere with that thing there, they needed to eliminate it.

He counted 18 seconds to get down and exit the eight floor apartments. Not bad, he thought. A few meters away the heroes were still in the same alley as silent as possible.

"And?" Jeff asked.

Poo joined the heroes inside the alley. "There's a chimera on top of a building," he pointed out of the alley and into the distance, "in that direction."

"A chimera?" Lucas wondered out loud.

"And a handful of vehicles and soldiers, but they are farther."

"Can't we sneak around the chimera?" Duster's thief skills asked for themselves.

"I doubt it. It seems to be a mix between a bat and a mole," Poo paused, expecting the others to realize the skill both animals had to detect… their preys. Nobody seemed to understand the point, though.

"The problem is," Jeff took the word. "A bat works as a radar so to speak. In the other side, the mole also has outstanding hearing sense."

"I see, now," Ness muttered.

"In that case, how are we gonna get across?" Claus asked.

"We will have to kill it, right?" Paula asked. Nobody responded for a brief moment.

"It's a shame to do that to an innocent creature," Lucas commented, knowing what they had to do, but not happy with it.

"Since Pokey put a hand on it it's not an innocent creature anymore," Kumatora said.

The heroes followed Poo through the same apartment he had been before. When they reached the rooftop Poo told them to keep themselves as low as possible.

Ness made a low whistle when he saw the creature. "That thing is scary."

"Scary we'll be when you alert that chimera with your whistle," Jeff said, and Ness rolled his eyes.

"And what's the plan?" Duster asked.

"A PK Rockin' won't take that chimera down in one shot, for sure," Ness said.

"Startorm?" Jeff asked, without thinking.

"The meteors falling 'may' attract attention," Claus replied.

"And a multi-PK Thunder?" Kumatora asked.

Paula shook her head, "I doubt we would be able to time it correctly…"

"Wait… Claus, doesn't you sword channels electricity?" Lucas asked his twin.

"Well, yeah…" Lucas raised an eyebrow in response to make it look even more obvious. "Oh! We can channel everyone's thunders in the sword and shoot the chimera."

"In that case, you will have one shot only," Poo warned Claus.

"I know," Claus responded, confident. "Let's do it. Charge my sword using PK Thunder."

The heroes who could use PK Thunder hesitated; it was a risky move… with a huge reward, if pulled off, though. Kumatora, Poo and Paula approached Claus. Their faces lighted up as they charged a PK Thunder of different levels. Claus' gaze shifted between the three heroes. They were concentrating on their part, and he had, too. There was only one shot: if he failed, the chimera would alert the whole army, but if he succeeded, they could cross a huge part of the city without much danger.

"I am ready," Paula said.

"Me too," Poo added.

Claus looked at Kumatora, she nodded.

"Okay, do it."

Claus grasped his sword with two hands–his knuckles turned white and he could clearly see the veins in his arms. Poo released the thunder first, followed by Paula, and lastly by Kumatora. Claus' eyes mirrored in a green tone the thunders consumed by the sword. He felt the electricity running through the unknown material the sword was made of. He didn't let go the sword, but the sheer force pushed him backwards; thankfully, Ness and Lucas supported him putting a hand on his back.

As the sword consumed several PK Thunders, Claus prepared his own: a Gamma level one. The sword glowed a bright and powerful lighting-yellow (Jeff thanked the chimera was blind). Claus closed his eyes just an instant and opened them again when he was ready. The sword spat sparks in random directions, as if telling Claus it was time to let it go. He aimed as perfectly as he could, and thrust the sword forward. A war cry was followed by the crackling, giant thunder coming out of the sword. The noise made the chimera react in godly-like time… the thunder, however, roared with the force of a lion and flew with the speed of a divine eagle.

The chimera tried evading to the left, not fast enough, though. Luckily, the thunder struck on the creature's heart, piercing across its body, and leaving a hole on the chimera's left side. It emitted a low whimper as the light left its blinded eyes. The inside of its body suffered various bleedings and incurable wounds. A black shape fell from the top of a nine-floor building, causing a thump as it hit the floor and created a small crater. The thunder continued traveling, crossing kilometers in an instant. Nobody saw it.

"That was awesome!" Ness said.

Claus only heard a part of Ness' words. His body was concentrated on the leftover electricity running through it. He fell backwards on the rooftop.

"Quickly, heal him," Lucas said, concern creeping up his voice.

Kumatora stepped forward and crouched in front of Claus. She muttered the necessary words and a green glow emerged from her hands. She placed her hands on Claus' chest.

Claus opened his eyes after a few seconds passed. He inhaled and exhaled. It felt good. "Did I do it?"

"Perfectly." Poo nodded, showing respect to the amazing stunt Claus had made.

Lucas was glad his brother was okay. He, however, noticed how tired Claus looked. He may slow everyone down. "Are you okay to continue?"

"I just…" His words were slow. "I can continue."

Lucas didn't agree with his brother. Claus sat up, put a hand on his knee and sprang to his feet. "See? I'm okay."

As soon as Claus' words finished, his knees gave up. He felt a shock going across his body, and then fell to the floor. Duster and Ness–who reacted the fastest–caught Claus mid-fall. "You're definitely not okay."

"It seems like Claus will need some time to recover. What if I go to the shore to scout in the meantime?" Poo said.

"I go with you," Duster added.

"No way. You can't go that far by yourselves," Ness shook his head.

"It would be quite helpful, Ness," Jeff interrupted. "That will give time to Claus to recover… and is not _that_ far from here."

Claus listened to the conversation. All of a sudden he felt like a burden for everyone. But he did what he was supposed to do, right? That should have make up for this.

"Don't take too long," Ness said, giving up on the discussion. "Come back as soon as possible."

Both, the thief and the prince nodded.

They crossed had several alleys with silent and quick strides. There were not as much enemy soldiers as they thought; still, they decided to avoid any unnecessary contact with them.

"We are not far from the bay," Poo said, recalling Summers map in his head.

"Alright," Duster replied. "Wait," he whispered. The sound of guns and equipment going up and down–as when a person marches–resounded on Duster's ears.

"I hear it," Poo said.

Duster crouch-walked a few meters forward. Between thrash-littered alleys, and the lack of a sun, he was just another shadow moving inside the alley. From inside the alley, Duster waited until the noise came back and showed up as two soldiers passing by. Duster looked back to Poo. With quick gestures it was decided they were going to take down the two soldiers with the less noise possible.

Duster and Poo took a long step out of the alley, covered the mouth of the two soldiers and dragged them inside the shadows. A quick punch turned off their lights.

After that small obstacle, the duo had arrived to the residential area, in which so far there were not soldiers. They walked all the way across the zone until they found a boat… then two… and then one dozen more.

The boats, however, were trapped in the ice that spread all across the ocean.

"We will have to cross this again," Duster said, his eyes examining the ice covering the ocean.

"Yeah, we will."

"Let's space ourselves." Duster distanced himself from Poo. "Be careful."

Without a doubt, they stepped into the ice floor. In a slow pace they crossed the frozen sea; also being careful on any enemy soldiers in the distance that could potentially spot them.

When Duster put the first foot on the small land, he sighed with relief. "Finally… Now, where is that shell house."

"Do you remember where you saw it?"

"Yes," Duster said, signaling Poo to follow him. They walked across the piece of land to the opposite end. Duster recalled when he first saw the shell house. He had seen it from the harbor, so it should be easier to find now.

"No?" Poo asked, noticing Duster's expression.

"Wait, I think there's something there." There was mist this time around–which there was not the last time Duster was here. But inside the thick mist there was a strange-shaped object on top of a hill, which was not easy to miss.

Duster squinted. He noticed the object was the size a typical Magypsy shell house would be. He wasn't yet sure it was the shell house, though. But then his eyes found the spiral top the object had. "Yes!"

Poo already knew what "yes" meant. "Where is it?"

Duster pointed at the distance, where Poo saw a black and electric blue colored shell… How a person is supposed to live in one of those? He wondered.

"We have to remember where it is exactly," Duster looked around. "With all this mist, we can easily get lost."

"Right," Poo said. "Come on, everyone must be wondering where are we."

Duster nodded. From there, the duo hurried back to the harbor, and then to the residential area, where they found the way they first came. Melting into the shadows on several alleys, and knowing the area better, they traveled back to where the others were.

With the exception of Poo and Duster, everyone decided to stay at the rooftop of the apartments. Lucas closely watched Claus' condition.

Ness, Paula and Jeff sat not far from the twins, just killing time.

Kumatora walked from one end of the roof to another, eager for the duo to come back and continue on the search of the eight Magypsy… and hopefully she wouldn't feel so lonely anymore.

The eaglelanders heard footsteps coming to the rooftop. Very fast footsteps. For a moment, Ness thought to relax since Poo and Duster were the only possible persons interested in getting up these apartments… However, he decided to prepare for a possible confrontation; Jeff and Paula followed him.

The footsteps halted. The door opened slowly and the tension was still flooding Ness… Until he saw Duster's boots stepping into the rooftop.

"Oh, it's only you," Ness said.

Duster nodded with a small smirk. He hurried over the twins and Kumatora. "We found the shell house."

Kumatora couldn't hide her amazed gesture. She glanced to the opposite side, whispering "yes".

"That's awesome!" Lucas added.

"Yeah, it is." Claus planted a hand in his knee to support himself and stand up.

"Are you okay? We weren't gone for more than half an hour," Duster said with a hint of concern.

"I'm wonderful here." He put a hand on his head, which seemed to tell him to stay down and relax. "Besides, we are wasting precious time."

"Claus's right," Paula approached the group. "We better hurry."

Poo and Duster led the rest of the group through the path they had created to get to the harbor. Even though they were more people this time, they got to their destiny faster. A few of soldiers marched near them. With stealth, they let those soldiers continue their way, and then continued.

The first thing Lucas thought when arriving to the bay was how they were going to go across. The ice covering the water was frozen solid… or at least that was what nature wanted them to think.

"The shell house is not that far," Duster broke the silence. "We can go from here to the nearest piece of land, and from there the mist is hiding the shell house."

"The problem is, Duster," Jeff said. "We may be able to walk a few meters into the ice, but after that it will break below us. It's risky."

"Duster and I expected you to come up with something," Poo shrugged.

Paula's mind lighted up as an idea came to her head. "And what if we take a boat–"

"Obviously, the ice won't let us go through the water," Kumatora said, lightly annoyed by the ridiculousness of the suggestion… at least that was before Paula corrected her.

"No, of course no. We can take a boat, and use PK Fire to melt the ice that's in our way."

"That might work," Jeff stroke his chin as he pondered on the idea. "It will be very tiring, though."

"In that case…" Claus walked between everyone else, heading to the nearest boat. "Let's get this thing going."

Everyone stepped inside the boat. There was just one more thing to sort out: How to drive a boat?

As in signal, the three eaglelanders looked at Jeff, who rolled his eyes. "I have read about this, maybe I can make it work."

After seven minutes and thirty six seconds (Poo counted) Jeff deciphered the basics of the boat. And so, as a surprise for everyone else, the engine roared to life.

"Well done," Ness said, tapping Jeff in the shoulder.

"Since that worked," Paula walked over to Kumatora. "You and I are going to be at the bow to melt the ice blocking the way."

It seemed like a great idea for Kumatora… It's just that… "Bow?"

"Follow me."

Kumatora followed Paula to the bow of the boat. They stood almost at the edge, being careful of not slipping off into the water or ice (the boat had an increasing layer of ice).

Before anything, Kumatora had still to try and see if she could use PSI normally again. Since she was rescued from that Monotoli building her ability to use PSI had been slowly recovering. Before departing, she took a little moment to try and create a small fire. She achieved it, but her mental stamina quickly drained after several seconds. Kumatora hoped her fire would burn good enough to make Paula's idea work. Yes! Her fire would burn just as those monsters, the Pigmasks, burned the beautiful Sunshine forest years ago. Just as the fire burned and killed several poor and innocent creatures…

Paula looked back at Jeff, and said, "When the ice starts melting you start the boat."

Jeff nodded, signal for the two girls to start working. "Now!" Paula commanded Kumatora.

The two girls shot a continued stream of fire from their hands. The twin fires quickly melted the solid ice blocking the front way. Paula stopped for a moment and walked all across the edge to get rid of the ice around the boat. When she returned to Kumatora's side, Jeff knew it was time to start moving.

Even though Duster noticed how slow they moved on the boat in comparison to Poo and himself, it was the best option for the number of people they were.

From the bow, Kumatora and Paula took turns to burn the ice in the way. Paula took note of how longer her "turns" were compared to those of Kumatora; she recalled how Kumatora was having problems with her PSI after she came back from the Monotoli building, so she didn't mind the longer turns.

After realizing the fact that there was snow falling, and ice covering everything, but with no real cold for their bodies, Ness and Lucas came up with various theories–involving the Dark Dragon's release side effects.

Duster stayed at Jeff's side, leading him through the strange waters. He used the small piece of land he was on before as a guide to find the shell house within the mist.

Suddenly, after 15 minutes, the boat stopped, Paula's fire faded, and the whole team looked to the front. A few meters from the bow there was a shell house on top of a hill. The electric blue and black shell Duster and Poo saw before.

The group observed their destination upon them. It was a strangely feeling, some of them thought. The time seemed to slow down as a strange sensation blended with the air. Ness broke the silence.

"We can't get up there from here," he said, emotionless.

"Let me search a place to dock, then." Jeff started the boat again.

Kumatora observed with nostalgia the shell house as the boat moved away from it. She inhaled and exhaled when she realized this was may be the end of their journey.


	13. One More Place Left

**A shorter chapter this time, at least compared with the last ones. Just a couple of chapters left!**

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><p>Once Jeff had docked the boat in a place the group could remember, the group walked off the boat.<p>

Ness was the first to put a foot in the island. He observed the surroundings. A thick jungle awaited them.

Duster and Jeff made sure the boat wouldn't go anywhere without them. Kumatora and Lucas joined Ness in the inspection of the island.

"We have moved away from the shell house. It won't be easy to find it again," Lucas said.

"In that case we better start searching."

Kumatora observed how as the coastline stretched, the beach was replaced by an enormous cliff, where the waves broke. The jungle on the top of the cliff didn't let her see further. She knew, however, that somewhere up there another Magypsy awaited for them.

Everyone gathered in the beach, where they took a moment to see the surroundings. There was no clear path. "Let's go. Be careful with the animals," Poo said, taking a step forward to enter the jungle.

The group barely knew where they were going. They had to go uphill, which was difficult since every inch of the jungle looked the same. Duster said they had to go in a line, and not (he emphasized the word "no") change direction, otherwise they could end up in a random part of the island.

As they continued the journey, Lucas silently thanked there were no enemies in here. It was strange, though. It suggested the worst waited for them later. But, if the Pigmask army were not here… they could already be where the Needle is. The thought chilled Lucas.

"I wonder if we are close already…" Paula thought out loud.

"Hopefully," Poo answered.

Claus thought for a second he could search for the shell house with the help of PK Speed. However, going at high speed in a jungle… wouldn't be the best to do.

They continued walking for several minutes. It seemed as if half the day was already gone inside the jungle. The weather was very damp, which made the group complain about it, and be attacked by mosquitoes several times.

Suddenly, from above something fell on Lucas' head. Duster and Claus, who were at his side, jumped back, alerted by a brown blur. Lucas yelped. "Wha–"

Jeff was the first to notice what had fell on Lucas. "Stay still," he told Lucas.

"What is it?" Lucas did as told. He froze there wondering what was moving on his hair.

"A... squirrel?" Claus said.

"A flying squirrel," Jeff corrected. As if on cue the animal squeaked. "Come here, buddy." Slowly, Jeff extended his hand towards the animal.

However, the squirrel leaped off Lucas's head and landed in front of the group. It squeaked again and then ran forward for a brief moment. It halted and turned back to look at the group. It squeaked continuously for a couple of seconds and stood still.

"That was strange." Paula frowned.

"Maybe the squirrel wants us to follow it," Ness said.

"That doesn't sound very pos–" Duster paused when the squirrel moved again, towards Ness. It stopped before him and squeaked as if it agreed with him.

"See?" Ness told Duster. Ness looked at the squirrel and said, " You lead the way."

Jeff sighed. The squirrel led them across the seemingly endless jungle. But after a few minutes less and less trees surrounded them until they arrived to what appeared to be an end of the island. A shell house stood perfectly under the sunlight. In front of the shell house was a pond. Opposite to the pond a field of flowers of various colors extended over a considerable distance.

"The squirrel was right…" Lucas broke the silence as he admired the beautiful flower field.

"Yes," Ness said, and then crouched to see the squirrel on its eyes. "You were right."

In response, the squirrel squeaked and ran towards the door of the shell, where it simply sat.

There were other animals in the area; a pair of ducks in the pond; a bunch of rabbits playing; birds singing in what seemed an orchestra, and more.

The group froze to watch the scene for a moment. Kumatora didn't follow them, though. She strode up to the shell house. She stood there for a moment, watching the door. She doubtfully knocked on the door. The words, "Wait, another Needle means another Magypsy…" repeated on her mind. That was what she said when she learned about the real last Needle.

"Comin'! 3" A sweet voice called from the other side of the door.

Kumatora's heart skipped a beat.

The door squeaked as it opened. Kumatora caught a glimpse of a pair of light-green boats–very similar to Ionia's.

The Magypsy revealed herself to Kumatora. The Magypsy wore a green coat with cotton lapels. A green hat shadowed her dark-blue eyes, which reflected Kumatora's expression.

"Are you…"

"I'm Solodria, darling. And you must be Kumatora. 3" she said, smiling.

Kumatora could only nod before she almost fell on Solodria's arms, embracing her in a hug.

"You're not lonely anymore," Lucas whispered. The group had approached the shell house by then. They patiently waited until Kumatora broke the embrace.

Kumatora stepped away from the Magypsy, smiling. Her sight got blurry by tears forming on her eyes. She quickly shook them off.

Solodria gave a step forward, inspecting the heroes one by one with her eyes. She squeaked in delight and leaped forward to meet the twins. She knew very well who they were. "Claus and Lucas. The other Magypsies have told me about you two. I'm Solodria. 3"

"It's a pleas–" Lucas was interrupted by Solodria's lips on each of his cheeks.

A smirk formed on Claus' face until he received the same gesture as Lucas.

"And you've brought friends! 3"

"Yeah…" Claus said. "This is Duster, Paula, Poo, Jeff and… um…" Ness, who was the last one, shot a glare to Claus. "Just kidding! And this is Ness."

As Claus finished with his introduction, Kumatora went back to what was important at the moment. Her feelings would have to wait. "Solodria," her voice turned firm. "Ionia told us about you, and that there is another Needle to be pulled."

"Exactly, Kuma," she replied. "I call it the resting Needle." She then addressed the group. "Come inside, I will tell you more. 3"

They did as told and entered the blue shell house. The interior was similar to other shell houses. In the middle a table with a white tablecloth and a bunch of fruits and vegetables faced them as they entered. Solodria's bed was neatly done at one corner of the house. On top of a bureau a mirror with a green outline reflected the heroes. And at his left, Lucas saw a bookcase in which the back of the books appeared to form a shape similar to a Needle… or that was what looked like.

"Take a seat, please, 3" Solodria said kindly.

Solodria sat at the head of the table, and the heroes took a seat with the exception of Poo and Duster who decided to stand at the side since there were not enough chairs.

"As you already know, Solodria," Claus started. "We came here to ask you for the location of the eighth Needle, and we are in a race with someone else to get there first, so if you can tell us where it is…"

Kumatora recorded Solodria's smile on her mind. They were not going to be here for more than half an hour, and then, she was going to be alone again. Her only hope after that was when they pulled the last Needle. The problem was she didn't know if they were going to be capable. Lucas noticed Kumatora's expression. He felt sad for her friend, and then put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I understand, Clausy. 3" she said. "I don't know who that 'someone' is, but remember with the Dragon unsealed every minute that goes on the nature gets weaker by the Dragon's power. That's why we've suffered an impossible change of weather across the Earth."

"That's something we know very well, we've seen with our own eyes," Lucas said.

"I'm glad you do, because there's not much time left before the Earth is unable to bear with the Dragon's power... just like before." Solodria put her hands together in a clap. "Now with the location. When the Earth was restored…"

Ness thought of those words: The Earth restored. What did it mean? He had heard it before coming from his new friends but never asked.

"…the eighth Needles was relocated, supposedly in this island, but the same powers from the nature has changed its location. This island used to be triple its size… before the violent storms broke the island apart, taking the eighth Needle away from me. Its new location is not far from here. Probably if you continue forward across the sea you will see it a few minutes from here. 3"

"And besides that, do you have a more specific location?" Duster asked. He didn't want to take more time. A wrong turn and the Pigmasks would get enough time to get to the Needle.

"Of course, Dusty, 3" she smiled. "The Needle is on the middle of the island you will find. In the middle there's a beautiful valley with a waterfall, lake, forest. It's a paradise in there. And if the nature has not played more with the Needle's location, it will probably be somewhere in the lake, where the water is low. 3"

"That's very useful information, Solodria, thank you," Kumatora said, and bowed with her head.

"By the way, this may be of use, 3" Solodria said. "Some hours ago, I saw a fleet of ships not far from here. In fact, they headed towards the Needle's location."

"Must be the Pigmasks..." Ness said.

"But how do they know where the Needle is?" Lucas asked.

"We can discuss that in the way to the Needle," Poo suggested, and received a nod from the others in the table.

"Before you go, don't you want something to eat? Nothing fancy, just to get your energy back. 3"

Ness' stomach growled as if in response. "Well, a few more minutes here won't affect much."

Solodria gave each of the heroes a small dish with fruits and vegetables. As the group ate, Kumatora approached to the Magypsy to speak with her own more time. Both of them knew Solodria timer was ticking down already, nonetheless, she acted as any other Magypsy: always with a smile on her face and wise words coming from her mouth.

Everyone was out of the house already. They had said their goodbyes to Solodria, as well as thanking her for the time they spent together. Kumatora was the last one to say goodbye. "I hate to say goodbye."

"Don't worry, darling, 3" she said. "It is just a 'see you later'. Besides, you will soon see the other Magypsies."

Kumatora smiled. "You think?"

"Of course! 3" Solodria squeaked. "I'm sure they are eager to see you again!"

"Thank you…" Kumatora's voice decreased before she embraced Solodria in a tight hug. Kumatora let Solodria go and joined the group.

"Thanks for everything, Solodria," Claus said.

"We'll make good of everything you told us," Paula added and slightly bowed.

"Goodbye, I wish you the luck!" she said, and with that the group walked away from the house.

In a nearby tree, the flying squirrel the group met before joined them again. "Oh, hello again!" Ness greeted the animal, who squeaked in response.

"I suppose it is going to take us back to the beach," Jeff thought out loud and the squirrel squeaked again.

The way back to the beach was shorter than they first expected. The first thing Jeff did when they got there was prepare the boat and ask for help to put it on the water again.

"Thanks, little friend," Ness said and crouched to see if the squirrel would accept a pat in the head. To his surprise it did.

"Who would've thought that you would make a squirrel friend, eh?" Paula asked with a hint of humor.

"I know." Ness laughed and then the two of them joined the others in the boat.

"Is everyone on board?" Jeff asked but didn't get a response. He glanced back. "Aight, let's go!"

The first minutes of the trip were silent. Everyone was pondering on what exactly was their next destination. Then Ness decided to feed his curiosity. "Ah, Lucas?"

"Yeah?"

"I have heard that you have used the words 'restore and world' several times. I was wondering what you mean by that?"

The 4 persons from the Nowhere Islands glanced at each other. So far the "tale" (as Claus' once called it) about the destruction of the world and how it was restored had remained as something close to a secret between few people on the Nowhere Islands. Nobody outside the Islands knew about this. Lucas pondered if someone should know about it.

Paula noticed the doubt on the eyes of the 4 persons from Nowhere Islands, and so she asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No one outside the Islands know the truth 'bout that," Kumatora said.

"Can we be the first then?" Paula responded.

Lucas eyed his friends and said, "I should tell them. After all, I heard from Leder personally."

Lucas then faced the three Eaglelanders and made sure Jeff could hear too. "Someone from our island told me this when the only place in Earth was the Nowhere Islands–"

Ness didn't want to interrupt his friend, but after those last words he had to. "What? Is that possible?"

"Apparently. He said before us, the people from Nowhere Islands, existed a different world, which was several times bigger compared with our small island. But that world was destroyed by humanity itself." Lucas paused for a moment. The Eaglelanders gasped audibly–with the exception of Poo, who was silently shocked. Lucas felt a pit in his stomach for a moment. He tried not thinking about that and continued.

"I do not know how that past world was destroyed but before the world ended a white ship arrived on Nowhere Islands. Every person who originally inhabited the Nowhere Islands came on that white ship to save themselves from the end of the world…"

"But… if the world was destroyed, why that white ship arrived to your islands if it was going to be destroyed."

"It was different," Kumatora entered the conversation. "The Nowhere Islands are special. The Dark Dragon sleeps under them, so its power protected the Islands from the end of the world."

"Exactly," Lucas resumed. "After the world was destroyed, the people that had survived decided to erase their memories in case the world were in danger again 'because of the humanity'. Then, everything started going well, until someone stumbled across these islands…" Lucas' words were cut by a moment of decision. He didn't want to tell that "someone's" name.

"After he stumbled with the Islands, everything started going terrible. He used us and our home as his own sandbox where did everything he wanted…"

"He killed out mother…" Claus said, as his eyes reflected sheer anger.

"Yeah, we remember you said it," Poo responded.

"Well," the blond continued. "Remember I said how I was told by the Magypsies to pull the Needles… When I finally did it the Dragon was released. And just how the Magypsies said the Dragon would restore our world, it did."

Jeff let go the wheel to ask, "I can't believe you are telling us our world was destroyed… and we died… and now you brought us back to life…"

"Indeed I am," Lucas responded with security. "It must be hard to understand but now you're here with us. We are all trying to accomplish a common goal, which is to save the world, and that's what matters. The past is past."

"You said it perfectly," Poo said.

"Something still bugs me, though." Paula addressed the 4 "foreigners". "Who was that someone?"

Lucas sighed. He didn't have to ask any of his friends to tell this information. He knew the Eaglelanders deserved to know this as well. "He called himself Porky… or Pokey he once said and that's all."

Kumatora, Duster and Claus wince by the mention of that name. They didn't want to hear it anymore. Lucas was struck with images of the past as he was visibly troubled by his own words.

"POKEY!" Ness jumped from his seat. His eyes filled with rage and his heart with pain.

Paula placed a hand in her mouth, amazed and disturbed at the same time. Poo's eyes widened at the name, and Jeff glanced back to Lucas. He was shocked.

"You know him?" Duster asked, not sure if his question was logic.

Ness didn't answer. He couldn't think of the odds of that… freak being the one who brought misery to the world and Nowhere Islands!

Paula decided to speak. As much as it disturbed her to remember, they had gotten the answer to Ness' innocent question, and now the 4 from the Nowhere Islands deserved an answer too. "It's a long story…"

Paula's story, or rather the 4 Eaglelanders' story, was as incredible as Lucas'. "I can't believe it…" Claus said. His family and friends were not the only ones who suffered from that monster after all.

"It's incredible how similar we are…" Ness said, once he had calmed down and Paula finished with her explanation. "At first we were solely by a common enemy and how we suffered, but now we are united because of a similar goal and that makes me happy. I don't know what you think, but regardless of what happens I'm glad I can fight at your side."

"I'm too," Paula said.

Poo nodded positively and Jeff added, "I agree!"

The twins, Duster and Kumatora smirked. Lucas then responded, "We are glad to fight at your side as well. Because we haven't just fought for the same goal, but we have also created strong bonds and that will help us now and after we finish this fight."


	14. SFP

_S.F.P. Storm the beach, find the valley, pull the Needle._

**A faster update this time... Yes, it's been 20 days since the last chapter, that's faster for me :) Enjoy!**

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><p>"I see a boat in the distance. It is going the same direction as us."<p>

"That means we are going the correct way," Ness replied to Lucas.

It has not been much since the group had left Solodria's island, and Ness knew they were going to encounter this army in the islands. He wasn't looking forward for that, though.

"Ten or fifteen minutes 'till we arrive, guys!" Jeff called.

"Will it be hard to find the Needle or we just have to rush to the center of the island?" Ness addressed the people from Nowhere Islands.

"Solodria said the Needle is in the middle of a valley, so maybe not. However, we shall get there fast. The Pigmasks must be on their way already," Kumatora responded.

"And now… what is this?" Jeff asked out loud, getting the twins attention.

Claus and Lucas glanced at each other and walked up to Jeff's side. "What's the matter?" the older twin asked.

Jeff pointed at the beach of the island. "Those things look like turtles but…"

Lucas squinted to see in detailwhat Jeff referred to. "Mecha-Turtles. And there are a lot. We will have to be very cautious with those. They have missiles on their back."

"What has missiles on its back?" Ness asked from the other side of the boat.

"Mecha-Turtles on the beach."

Claus didn't separate his eyes from the beach and the several creatures wandering on it. "It was obvious the Pigmask army was not going to let their guard down. They know we are coming."

With only a few minutes more before they arrived to the beach, everyone grabbed their stuff and got ready for what seemed like an unavoidable battle in the beach. Kumatora, Duster and Lucas exchanged opinions about the chimeras overpopulating the beach.

When they finished, Duster got up and addressed the rest of the group. "Let me tell you," he glanced at Claus and Jeff, and then back to the other three. "Kumatora, Lucas and I have already fought the Mecha-Turtle,so there's some stuff you have to know: always approach them from the front. If they turn their back on you be careful. In the back they have missile launchers. We have seen them shooting a bunch of missiles without a break, so always try finishing them off quickly and from the front."

"How an animal as gentle as a turtle can turn into this…?" Paula wondered, not expecting an answer.

"That's one of the reasons we are fighting for," Duster responded.

The beach was now a few feet away. "Everyone, prepare to leave the boat. Poo, please stay and help me to push it up to the beach!"

"The water is not deep in here, get down!" Jeff shouted.

Just as Jeff's words finished, the chimeras noticed their enemies.

From one side, Kumatora, Duster, Lucas and Claus leaped off the boat. They accorded to make a distraction to give Jeff space and dock the boat.

In the other side, Ness and Poo leaped off. Ness offered a hand to Paula. She accepted and got down the boat. Jeff powered down the engine and followed right behind. Ness and Paula were going to cover the other two. Poo nodded to Jeff and they started pushing the boat near the beach.

Lucas rushed towards the beach, alongside his friends and brother. He could almost taste the blood that was soon going to flow. All four scattered to make themselves harder targets. A chimera stood in front of Claus and wheeled.

From the opposite side Lucas yelled, "Claus!"

Kumatora was the closest to the redhead. She grunted and planted a hand on the sand. A spike erupted from below the chimera turning it over.

Claus nodded to Kumatora, thanking her. He took a moment to take out the handle of his thunder sword. He powered it on.

"Be careful with that!" Duster warned him. "It that touches the water, it will surely toast us!"

How couldn't he think of that! Claus glanced downwards. He was still on the water–and the others too. It was not deep but any amount of water could have surely conducted the electricity of his sword. He powered it off and put it in his pocket to save it until they were on solid ground.

Lucas ran in front of the boat, where two chimeras were preparing their missiles. They shot. Lucas jumped in front of the missiles' path. He raised a PSI Counter to block the missiles. The combined explosion of three missiles destroyed his PK Counter instantly and threw him backwards into the water. The explosion reached the chimeras, engulfing them in a fireball.

Ness rushed up to a chimera and with his PSI-charged bat, he struck the creature. At his right, Paula blasted two more Mecha-Turtles with twin thunders. "Let's make a path to the beach!" Paula told the fighters in the water.

Duster threw a smoke bomb where three chimeras were gathering a few feet away from the boat. He charged inside the cloud of smoke. One of the Mecha-Turtles emitted a sound. Duster turned to face it and kickedthe chimera in the head. The turtle stood there, stunnedas its missiles compartment opened in self defense. Duster pushed with all his strength the turtle so it faced the other chimeras. The missiles screamed past him and blasted the two Mecha-Turtles**. **Duster leaped off the smoke cloud before the explosion reached him.

Lucas looked around him. His eyes hurt when he realized what they were doing. Those chimeras were once peaceful animals and now they were killing them… At least they were freeing them from that life. Nonetheless, what troubled Lucas the most was thinking if they were going to do the same to his dog. Boney. A shudder traveled across his body.

"Lucas! It's everything okay?" Claus put his hand in his twin's shoulder. Lucas nodded. "Come on, then!"

Lucas advanced with Claus on his side. A chimera walked in his path. Lucas' hand emitteda bright white light. A second later he smashed the chimera in the head, his flattened palmconnected with the creature and flungit backwards.

The boat advanced slowly towards the beach as the amount of chimeras decreased. Most of the Mecha-Turtleswere now at a considerable distance from the group and just a few were left to take out.

A Mecha-Turtle sneaked behind the group and approached the boat from the left. "Watch out!" Poo warned Jeff, as he unsheathed his sword.

Jeff took out his Gaia Beam. He shot twice and the chimera slowed down, now badly wounded. Poo took this as a signal. He sprinted up to the chimera and threwa hand forward, releasing a powerful PSI wave, which put the Mecha-Turtle out of combat.

The group was finally reunited on the beach and the boat resting on the soft sand. At the distance, more Mecha-Turtlesslowly walked advanced.

"Will they attack the boat?" Jeff asked.

"Hopefully not," Ness responded.

"Come, we don't have all day," Kumatora said, turning away from the ocean.

A similar jungle as the one in Solodria's island welcomed them with several mysterious noises.

The group entered the jungle. Lucas pushed away branches and leaves in his path. They walked for a few minutes without any more noises than the jungle's nature**. **That was until Poo raised a hand to halt the rest of the group in the middle of a dirt path. "Did you hear that?"

Lucas heard the roaring of a vehicle coming. He looked at the others. "Pigmasks."

A small jeep driven by two soldiers came charging at them. Paula stepped in front of the group and threw her hands forward. An invisible force smashed the vehicle sending them to the side against the trees.

"Nice," Ness told her. Paula winked back.

But a rumble coming from the ground told them something was wrong.

"Ah?" Duster looked to the ground.

"I-It's not coming from there…" Claus pointed at the distance.

A blood-hungry roar invaded their ears. A shudder went across the twins, as a huge half machine, half Drago monster appeared. Its two giant paws stomped with fury on the ground as it advanced. Both, mechanized and normaleyes fixed on them. A voice in the monster's head was telling him to kill without mercy. A part of his–almost non-existent–natural side knew he didn't have to continue… but this other part, the one the Mecha-Drago "felt" shouldn't be there made him continue and ignore its "good" side.

No one moved for a moment until Jeff drew a green gun, an upgraded version of his slime generator, and shot the chimera, successfully slowing it down.

A burning sensation ran through Claus. A revenge that was never completed. He aimed the thunder sword on the Drago's head and prepared to attack.

"Wait…" Lucas put a hand on his brother's arm. "It won't take him down."

Most of the group had already escaped from the area and ran into the jungle. Duster halted for a moment. "Lucas, Claus!"

The twins quickly followed the others.

Even though the group had a head start over the Mecha-Drago, it didn't need much time to free itself. The trees were knocked down by its mighty force as the animals fled scared from the area.

"It's right behind us!" Ness screamed.

Wordlessly, Kumatora screeched to a halt and wheeledto face the chimera. She put her hands together. A blue ball appeared in between them, which increased in size quite fast. "PK Freeze!" she shouted as she released the attack.

The blue ice ball turned into a snowflake and flew towards the Mecha-Drago. The chimera didn't hesitate and tried to resist the attack. It was wrong. PK Freeze struck powerfully on its target, making it go down. The Drago kept moving but it would be disable for a moment. A moment the group could use to escape the fearsome monster.

"Wow!" Duster exclaimed.

"Save your compliments for later. Now, we have to lose that thing!" she responded. The rest of the group agreed and they vanished into the thick brush.

"Is that a…" Ness pushed a few leavesblocking his view and found himself a step closer to the valley. "…river!"

The group followed Ness, eagerly to see the river by themselves. "Good," Jeff whispered to himself. "This may take us to the valley."

"Awesome!" Claus shouted, excited.

Jeff had been drawing a mental map of the zone, and presuming the valley was in the middle of the island–as Solodria said–they just had to follow the stream of the river and they would probably have a beautiful view of the valley.

Unfortunately, the break didn't last for the heroes.

At the distance, the green monster emerged from the jungle, destroying trees as he roared. "That again?" Paula whined.

And from the other side of the river, a squad of pigmasks came out from the jungle. Leading them was a pigmask in a white suit and cape, both with red spots on it. "H-He… is the one who was leading the pigmasks at Summer's beach!" Lucas exclaimed. He remembered him very well. He released Boney from his cage. He called his dog Fragilis.

"Yeah, probably," his brother responded.

"We will get them!" Ness told the group. Jeff, Paula and Poo stood at his side. "You fight the chimera."

"Sure, thanks for being so gentle…" Kumatora whispered.

Poo looked into the river and noticed it had different depth levels. He quickly found how to go to the other side. "Follow me!"

As the Chosen Ones crossed the river, the Mecha-Drago charged.

Once again, Kumatora stepped in the front, "PK Ground!"

Spikes emerged from the ground blocking the Mecha-Drago. The chimera screeched to a halt and rammed on the spikes. Claus took advantage of this and prepared his sword. He whipped the sword in the air and brought it down sending four thunders aiming at the chimera. It received the full attack and flinched.

"Let's go!" Lucas commanded. He ran up to a few feet from the Mecha-Drago and focused for a second. "PK Love!" The attack–beta level–landed on the Drago sending it to the ground. The rest of the team advanced to continue the attack.

Poo and Ness crossed the river first and created a shield to cover their partners. They stood some feet away from the Pigmask squad. From behind, Paula raised her hand to the air and called, "PK Thunder!"

Three thunders followed her words and crashed down into the center of the squad. Some of them reacted quickly enough and jumped to the side.

Poo and Ness dropped their shields and charged the squad to engage them in close combat. Jeff was already shooting to the pigmasks soldiers that were still standing. He created cover for the prince. Poo sprinted and stabbed a pigmask and kicked another approaching from behind.

"PK Rockin'!" Ness tried to aim at the pigmask in white and red. He wanted his rematch after what the pigmask did in Summer's beach. The pigmask, however, hid behind his squad and ran further away from the Chosen Ones. He escaped into the jungle.

Duster took out his staples and ran up to the Mecha-Drago. Still in the ground, the Drago roared with intensity, trying to scare off Duster. The thief barely cringed and continued. He threw staples at the Drago's limbs and tail. That could give the others an opportunity to finish off the creature. Duster stepped aside and said, "Claus! Your turn!"

Claus grew eager at those words. His eyes burned with fury. Firmly grasping his sword, he sprinted towards the chimera. He threw back his sword to stab the Drago in the heart.

Claus' battle cry and the Mecha-Drago's cry of pain blended into a fearful roar.

Suddenly, Claus' sword was snatched. The Mecha-Drago jerked back and rose to its feet. Claus saw the sword impaled in the right side of the Drago's chest. It had freed itself just in time and barely dodged the mortal attack.

Claus was not faster thanthe artificial monster. The Drago rammed with its head on the boy's chest.

He felt the light snatched away from him as he flew several feet, spun in the air and landed roughly on the ground, leaving a dirt path behind him.

"Claus!" Lucas screamed. He ran up to his brother and kneeled to his side.

"Dammit…" Kumatora glanced back. The image reminded her how Lucas cried on his brother's lifeless body back on the seventh Needle's cave.

The Drago recovered and charged, aiming at Kumatora and Duster. Kumatora glared daggers at the green monster and yelled, "PK Starstorm!"

Flaming meteorsrace from the sky, ready to strike the Drago. The chimera had a split of a secondto see the death from above glaring directly at him. It roared one last time. The impact crashed on the Mecha-Drago and its surroundings. The meteors created an enormous cloud of smoke and the temperature suddenly rose. Small fires burned the grass and trees nearby.

Kumatora panted and then glanced to the other side of the river. Ness and the others had won the battle in there as well. She sat on the grass and relaxed for a second as the fire consumed any left part of the chimera.

Duster looked up at the sky. "That surely gave ourposition." He grunted, "As if this was not bad enough. He walked up to the twins and asked, "How is he?"

"I'm not a doctor, Dust," Lucas said. He didn't removed his eyes from Claus. "Hopefully I can heal him."

The Chosen Ones walked back to the other side of the river. Ness glanced back. The pigmask that escaped was the same one he fought in Summer's beach.

Ness stood alongside his friends. He wanted to help Lucas and Claus so badly. Lucas looked frustrated as he applied all his energy in the green, healing light hovering over Claus torso.

The green light vanished on the air and then Lucas slumped on the grass. "That's all I can do."

"Lemme try," Ness told him, kneeling besides Claus.

Lucas watched with full attention how Ness' hands moved across the boy's torso.

Duster sighed and turned around, looking at the crater where the Mecha-Drago last stood. He approached Kumatora–who observed the twins from the distance–and said, "That must have given our position away, you know?"

"In that case you should've tried talking with the Drago and tell it to go away," she said and huffed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to say you took the wrong decision. It was the best thing to do. But, still, we will have to be faster now 'cause the Pigmasks will locate us easily after this."

"Obviously…" she stood up and started walking towards the others. "Once Claus is OK we can go from here."

Ness and Lucas observed Claus, still unconscious, waiting for him to respond to their healing. Suddenly, Claus took a long breath and opened his eyes again. Lucas leaned over his brother and gave him a tight hug. "You're okay…"

"Not…long… if you… keep strangling me…" Claus talked with difficulty not because of Lucas, but because his body was still sore.

"It was about time," Ness told him, a big smirk across his face.

Claus sat up ignoring the pain. He looked past his friends and directly at the crater where the Mecha-Drago last stood. He glared at the two remaining parts of the Drago, its lower jaw and its tail. Both mechanic parts smoldering from the small fires around them.

"My sword…" Claus put a hand on his knee and rose to his feet. Lucas and Ness tried helping but Claus was too fast.

"Sorry," Kumatora muttered. "PK Starstorm must have destroyed it."

"No," Claus corrected. "Its far more resistant than the metal the Drago was made of."

"You think? Starstorm is very–" Ness tried saying, but was cut by Claus.

"I know."

Each time Claus gave a step, he was greeted by what seemed a blow in his stomach. Nonetheless, he continued walking to search for his sword.

"He really likes that sword, eh?" Ness said.

In a matter of minutes, after the group started searching for the small object, Paula raised an arm and said, "I found it!"

A few feet away from the crater, and hidden within a bush, Paula reached down and picked the sword.

"Thanks," Claus said to her. He hurried over there–bearing with the increasing pain–and accepted the sword.

Once Claus received his weapon, Duster approached the others and said, "PK Starstorm surely drew the pigmasks' attention. We have to get away from here."

"You're right. However, the valley must be close now. We need to follow the river," Jeff said.

"In that case we will have to continue," Poo said. "We can't hide in the jungle and risk getting lost… again."

The heroes passed the crater and continued walking following the stream.

It was not long before they got their reward. "The valley!" Lucas and Claus said at the same time. The river ended and descended into a waterfall decorating the already amazing view. Both twins hurried to see the valley.

"Wow…" Kumatora joined the twins, and the rest of the group got closer to see.

The valley was outright enormous. The river they were following turned into a waterfall. There was an "entry" into the valley in the opposite side with the jungle creating a path that made entering into the valley easy. Rock walls encased the valley. Birds flew across the top of the valley, their various colors creating a flying rainbow. High grass lined the valley, while a circular creek stood the center. Past the high grass and extending to the center, shallow water covered most of the solid ground. Lucas' eyes gleamed, marveled. He noticed how a faint rainbow stretched below them, thanks to the waterfall.

The amazing view, however, was quickly spoiled when Lucas found they were not alone. A small army of pigmasks littered the valley below. A couple of tanks, several chimeras, soldiers in patrol and some more wandering around, and vehicles parked over a beautiful flower field.

Lucas glanced all around the valley. He was searching for someone. The Commander. After scanning the place he sighed with a bittersweet relief. The Commander was not there but his soldiers were. Soon or late he could appear and make their already-difficult mission to something near impossible.

"We shall get down," Poo said after a moment of silence.

Before he could get a respond, though, the noise of trees being demolished and a roar following startled the heroes.

An enormous chimera leaped out of the jungle. It resembled a giant, dark-purple hedgehog. Its shark-like teeth as sharp and deadly as the purple spines coating its body. It had a cavity in the middle of its back. There, the pigmask in white and red was sitting, glaring at the heroes. He was safely protected by the spines around him.

"That's new…" Duster whispered, a slight terror creeping through his voice.

Without warning, the monster pounced towards the heroes.

"Move!" Ness screamed.

Half the group jumped away from the creature, while the others barely had time to sidestep. Jeff, Duster and Claus were separated from the rest by the chimera's enormous body.

Jeff tried giving a step backwards but he felt nothing under his foot. They were at the edge, one more step and they would fall down to the valley.

The chimera lashed out with its claws at Jeff. Jeff tried evading it without falling but he couldn't. A rock under his feet gave up and Jeff slipped off the edge. A firm hand grabbed him just in time. One of Claus' feet was in solid ground while the other was in the air. He was not going to hold for much more. The weight was too much for him. He fell.

"Claus!" Duster shouted to the redhead. He leaped off the edge, whipping out the Rope Snake in mid-air. He reached out for Claus' hand–who grasp it firmly–and commanded the Rope Snake to hang onto the rock wall. They stood there for a moment. Duster tried to find more strength and swing his two friends back up.

"Duster." Lucas saw how his brother, Duster and Jeff fell off the cliff. He wanted to go and help them but the hedgehog chimera stood on his path.

The chimera charged in Kumatora, Lucas and Poo's direction. The princess and the prince reacted first. "PK Freeze!" They said in symphony and a giant ice ball was shot.

The attack hit the target stopping the chimera. The hedgehog swiftly turned around and shot its spines towards Paula and Ness.

"PK Fire!" Paula shouted creating a fire barrier. The spines flew through it losing volume but still going strong. Ness swung his hand upwards and a PSI Shield appeared in front, protecting them.

Lucas gave two long steps forward and shouted, "PK Love!" The beta attack smashed the creature pushing it near the edge.

The chimera quickly moved away from the edge and pounced on Paula. The girl saw the attack coming. She yelped and the attack stopped inches from her. Thousands of small crystals exploded. Ness had summoned his PSI Shield just in time.

The opportunity reflected in Paula's eyes. Her eyes were suddenly coated in electricity. With a cry she punched the air in front of her, releasing twin thunders inches away from the hedgehog's face.

The creature cried as it rolled into the river. For a moment, Lucas hoped the river would take the chimera into the waterfall. It didn't.

The monster's claws nailed down in the earth under the river. It clawed its way out of the river only to receive another combined PK Freeze attack from the princes… but not before it shot a spine towards Kumatora. Poo barely saw the spine ejecting from the chimera's body. He stepped in front of Kumatora, receiving the spine on his side. He fell to the ground.

"Oh no…" Paula whispered to herself as the prince's body touched the ground.

In the other side of the river, the chimera recovered from the attack. The pigmask on the creature's back was already halfway down falling unconscious… He was not going to give up that easily, though!

He forced the creature to stand up, "Go! Go! Get them!

He would not lose again. His Leader, his Lord… his King had ordered him personally–along with more pigmaks of his rank–to hunt down the Chosen Ones and their newfound companions, in which was included Lucas and Claus. After the battle in Summer's beach he showed "incompetence" as other soldiers had put it. They were right. How even with the Pigmask Army's second most powerful weapon, Fragilis, he had not fulfilled his orders? He was too confident. That's the answer. And now, even though Fragilis is in a different place, where it's more needed, he had the powerful hedgehog chimera under his control. He wouldn't let his King down again.

As the chimera slowly recovered, Lucas had a small window of time to help his friends and brother. "Cover me! I will check on the others!" Kumatora instantly joined him. Ness knew how to use this time. He couldn't cover Lucas with full attention… since Poo still lay on the ground, half unconscious.

Duster had heard a PK Freeze attack and then a heavy thump. He was hoping for someone to help them. He could feel the Rope Snake grasp loosing and he couldn't find the strength to get back up.

"Guys," Duster addressed the other two. "I will swing you back up. There will be a single chance and no more. The Rope Snake has already endured too much."

Duster prepared himself for the next move. He swung the two boys lightly–back and forth–to gain momentum.

"Duster…" Claus said softly. He knew Duster was not going to swing Jeff and him back up that easily. However, Duster knew that as well.

Duster swung his arm one last time. The boys raised a considerable height… but not enough. After a split-second decision, Claus mustered his strength and gave Jeff one more push upwards. That was barely enough. Jeff clung into the solid ground above with the full help of his arms. The rest of his body still hovered above several feet.

As if on cue, when Duster saw Jeff reach the edge, the Rope Snake let the rock wall go. Duster dropped the Rope Snake muttering a "sorry".

Claus kept his grasp on Duster's hand. Their eyes widen at the same time. They were going to be soaked up by the waterfall.

"Hold on!" Claus screamed, his words barely leaving his mouth before the water invaded him.

Head first they descended down the waterfall at an amazing speed. Claus stretched out his hand and shot a PSI wave downwards to the foot of the waterfall and possibly cushion their descent… and not be killed.

Both of them closed their eyes and lost grasp of each others hand as they crashed into the water.

As Lucas and Kumatora hurried over to the edge, suddenly a hand poked from the edge and then Jeff appeared, barely hanging with both arms on the ground.

Lucas and Kumatora promptly strode forward and helped the boy. When Jeff was safe, Lucas gave a step forward and looked down at the valley. And what about Duster and his brother…? The thought was accompanied by a sharp pain in his heart.

"They fell…" Jeff panted.

Before Lucas had the opportunity to respond, someone else drew his attention. "We need help here!" Ness shouted. Lucas saw Paula dragging Poo's barely-conscious body away from the river as Ness adopted a fighting stance.

Lucas and Kumatora hurried over to Ness' side. "We need to get rid of this thing already!" Ness told them.

"PK Starstorm?" Kumatora asked both boys.

Ness shook his head. "You will end up tired and without energy. I can do this, I just need a distraction… and if you hold that thing still it would be better."

The chimera was up again, prepared to fight to death.

"Kumatora," Lucas said as a plan unfolded on his mind. "Distract it, I will give Ness his opportunity." Lucas nodded to the other boy and then the two jumped–boosted by PSI–to the other side of the river.

Kumatora focused on her next move. She pointed her hand at the chimera and said, "PK Thunder!"

Three thunders came out of her hand, instantly following their target. The chimera dodged one and then another. The third one, however, landed. The pigmask commanding the chimera finally fell into unconsciousness and the creature stood there, stunned for a brief moment. Lucas strode forward and stood a few feet away from the chimera. He extended both arms and swung them violently downwards. PSI shocked the creature as it seemed to be crushed by a truck. It was pinned down.

Ness knew it was his turn. He came rushing towards the creature, a multicolor energy surrounding his hand. "PK Rockin'!" He threw his hand forward and struck the chimera in its face with the gamma level attack. Several colors washed over the chimera before it was sent flying towards several trees, tearing them down with its body.

The chimera landed 40 feet into the jungle. Its body was severely damaged and chunks of reinforced skin and hide–as well as spines–had been consumed by the powerful attack. Its face was totally distorted. The pigmask in white and red was nowhere to be found.

Ness observed at the distance the knocked down trees creating a path that ended on the lifeless body of the chimera. He felt relief… It didn't last long, though. He remembered Poo needed attention and Claus and Duster were somewhere in the valley in danger.

Tiredness invaded him. He fought to stand on his feet but fell on his rear.

"Are you OK?" Lucas asked him.

Ness nodded back. "Go help Poo. I go in a second."

Lucas did as told and along with Kumatora they assisted Paula helping Poo. Lucas instantly applied healing PSI and then Ness too. It took a few minutes before Poo could stand up again. Not as his full potential but he assured he felt excellent. Although, Ness could clearly notice Poo cringing each time he moved.

The 5 heroes walked up to the edge and looked down at the valley. "We will have to go now," Lucas said.

Following Lucas' words, Kumatora said, "Claus and Duster are there. They may run into problems at any time."

Ness wanted a plan before they ventured into the valley. He knew the others wanted to have one as well. "There doesn't seem to be any other option."


	15. Put the Dragon to Rest

**Here it is! At last part 1 of the finale: "Put the Dragon to Rest"**

* * *

><p>Lucas gave a moment to himself to relax, since from now on there was not going to be any rest.<p>

He looked down at the valley, his eyes sweeping the area for any signals of Claus and Duster. There were none.

"How are we going down there?" Paula asked.

"We may be able to use PSI and cushion our fall," Ness responded.

"You go first, I may slow you down if I go with you," Poo said. Ness knew he referred to his condition. It was not the best.

Without any more words the group divided in two. Lucas and Kumatora went to the right, and Ness, Paula and Jeff headed to the left. Being spread out was going to give a harder time for the soldiers to fight them.

Lucas glanced to the other side, where Ness nodded to him. It was time to go down.

"Grab my hand," Lucas told her partner. "We will jump down and a few feet from landing I will launch a shockwave. We have done it before, and we will do it right this time too."

Poo walked closer to the edge, careful not to alert the enemy. He stood there ready to watch his friends from above.

Lucas jumped off the edge with a firm grip on Kumatora's hand. He tried aiming to land near the water if anything went wrong.

The wind hit Lucas from below as he descended the immense fall. The descent seemed to go forever. However, as he got closer to the ground his instinct kicked in and he barely managed to cast the PSI shockwave just in time. The velocity of his fall had tricked him and caught him off guard. Thankfully the sudden PSI shockwave struck the ground as planned. It created an air bubble that remained there for a fraction of a second. It was enough. Lucas and Kumatora were suddenly halted–their insides reacted creating a brief nausea. And even though the landing still sent a jolt through his feet and body, he was glad his plan worked.

Without warning the roar of a thunder traveled across the valley. Instinctively Kumatora closed her eyes as a shiver went up her spine. The next sound she heard was a thump. She opened her eyes only to see a Pigmask, near a rock formation, on the ground, in his limp arms a rifle.

Poo had alerted every Pigmask in the valley but at least Kumatora was still standing. She didn't know it but the last image in the dead man's scope was the back of her head.

In the opposite side, Paula created a fire wall in front of her and the two boys. They ran behind the cover and spread out, forming a perimeter around the waterfall.

She heard another thunder coming from above. This time landing in one of the Pigmask's vehicles. She followed Poo's attack with her own PK Thunder in two soldiers closing their distance. For a moment, Paula unconsciously pondered about the lives of those soldiers. Did they deserve what they were getting? In the case they were treated as the chimeras, no. Trained and used as a fighting machine without any other option. When she considered that was the possibility, it diverted her attention away from the battle. However, Paula didn't want to make herself feel bad for her actions. At least, not yet. Not in the middle of a battlefield.

"I'm going to search for the others!" Lucas called to his group.

Before Lucas could focus on Duster and his brother, Kumatora told him harshly, "We can do it after clearing the valley!" But Lucas didn't respond. "Lucas– Argh!"

Kumatora swore after noticing Jeff and Ness were under heavy fire. She gave a step forward and pulled her hand back. A blue sphere appeared on her hand and in an instant it grew in size. "PK Freeze!" she exclaimed. The blue sphere flew toward a couple of soldiers, exploding in contact. Ice shards rained near the fallen soldiers.

Lucas thought he heard Kumatora calling for him. Probably not, though. Now he had to focus on finding Claus and Duster.

He glanced around him. The waterfall flowed several feet in front of him. It had created a creek with cool-looking water which made Lucas imagine his family and friends enjoying of this place casually. Playing with the water, having a picnic under the shadow of a nearby tree… Lucas shook his head. Those thoughts are for later.

Thoughtlessly he stepped into the water and waded up to a couple of feet from the waterfall. The water reached just under his chest. He expected it to be deeper.

He craned his neck up and down searching for any signal of the lost ones. There was a huge rock near the edge of the creek, but he doubted they would be there. Same with the pair of trees in the opposite side.

A bit scared he looked back to see how the others were doing. He knew Poo hadn't descended when he saw a lighting strike a chimera, and then a tank. He forgot there were more than just soldiers. Then he saw Jeff shooting at a tank. Lucas thought it was useless until he saw the gun release a green, sticky-looking substance. It stuck on the tank's tracks–which was accelerating toward Jeff and Kumatora–and immobilized its movement. Kumatora knew what to do next. She opened her hand and smacked the ground in front of her. The ground rumbled around them and soon enough, spikes emerged from below the tank, impaling it in several areas. As a sign of victory, one last spike pierced the heart of the tank and emerged through the top.

Once he was pleased with the scene, Lucas turned back to the creek. He took a deep breath and plunged into the water to look for anything that could help him.

_Nothing here._

Lucas was ready to go back to the surface but then he noticed there was something behind the waterfall. He went back up and waded around the waterfall.

"Claus, Duster!"

Behind the waterfall was a small cave. Duster and Claus sat with their backs against the wall. They didn't look good at all.

"Luke…" Claus responded him. His voice was weak and lacked its natural emotion.

He sprinted up to his brother. "Oh, you look bad, Claus." He turned to Duster, who was in the opposite wall. "How do you feel?"

"Not that bad, thanks to Claus. And the others?" As he finished speaking, Duster mustered strength and pressed his back against the cold rocky wall, sliding up it. His wrists hurt–and the rest of his body–, but if he showed any sign of pain, Lucas would not let him fight without a lecture first.

Lucas examined Duster. He seemed to stand with difficulty. Lucas considered telling Duster to take his time and stay here. He, however, knew Duster. The stubborn man was not going to accept his suggestion. "They are in the valley fighting the Pigmasks."

Lucas crouched in front of his brother, scrutinizing the several scratches in his face and the blood trickled down from a gash in his forehead.

"I'm… okay," Claus told Lucas. "I will heal myself. You two go and help the others."

"No way." Lucas' hands glowed with a powerful green. His hands hovered above Claus' face and then his arms and legs–which sported bruises as well.

"That's better," Claus said.

Lucas held out a hand, "Can you get up?"

Claus accepted his brother's hand with a firm grip. "Of course!"

Ness dived to the left. A cattlesnake–as Kumatora said it was called–had charged in his direction. Its endurance made it appear invincible to his attacks. In the last second he had had to throw himself out of the monster's path.

"PK Freeze!" Poo shouted from behind him.

Ness saw the attack colliding with the chimera and to his surprise the cattlesnake collapsed to the ground. He was glad Poo had just joined the rest of the team a couple of minutes ago.

"There aren't many more left. Let's hurry this up!" Kumatora cried. Skillfully, she leaned to the side, dodging the poisonous, purple tail of a Mecha-Lion. And with no fear in her expression, Kumatora struck the beast, with her flattened palm, in its underbelly. Three thunders emerged from the chimera's back before it slumped lifelessly into the ground

Ness rose to his feet. At the same time he spotted a figure up in the edge of the valley. Squinting, he noticed the figure had a long riffle in his hands. The soldier's figure looked down at them, ready to shoot his weapon.

Ness didn't hesitate. "PK Rockin'!" Just before the PSI was unleashed he figured there was no way of hitting his target. Not that far. Hell, the armed figure was not even in the valley. So Ness aimed lower, to the ground the soldier was standing on. PK Rockin' covered the distance in a blink and hit a huge rock supporting the soldier. It created a small avalanche of rocks in which the soldier was trapped as he fell from the roof of the valley.

_Where is Lucas? Their numbers are diminishing, but there's no purpose in that if he's not here to pull that Needle._

Just as Ness was certain he had taken care of the soldier, a white beam rushed past him. He stood there frozen. Moving his pupils and nothing more, he followed the trail of the beam. It blasted a chimera getting too close to him. Ness realized he was still holding his breath; releasing the air on his lungs he turned to the source of the beam.

"Watch your back!" Lucas told him. He was standing near the creek; aside him, Duster and Claus.

"It was about time!" With the Pigmask's numbers very low, she took a moment and ran up to the creek's edge. She glanced at Claus and Duster. "I'm glad you are okay. We were worried. And… you have to hurry and pull the Needle. Now."

Paula pointed with her finger at an enemy truck. "PK Freeze!" A giant snowflake enveloped the truck, and in the following second the ice exploded along with the vehicle.

"Are we finally done?" Jeff let out his words with a long sigh.

Then as if calling the bad luckwith his words, the engine of an enemy vehicle reverberated in the valley. No. It was not one engine…

10 trucks seemed to appear out of nowhere in the entrance of the valley. Behind those, chimeras walked–nearly marched in a human fashion–, each of their steps hammering the ground with suppressed fury. Not only the vehicles were filled with soldiers, but more came marching from the back.

However, not the soldiers and not the chimeras compared to what Lucas saw next. The commander emerged from the crowd and headed to the front to lead his army. Then someone followed the commander closely. Lucas' friend, companion and… dog. Boney's gray and brown fur, shone with the sun and his claws rattled on the ground. His gaze was the same as the other chimeras'. Lost.

Lucas stared at him in the eyes with the hope of finding a trace of life in him. There was none. His black eyes were an exact reflection of his soul. Previously one full of live, but now an empty void. They lacked their typical luster.

Suddenly Ness felt a piercing pain in his head. He commanded his brain to grasp his head–and maybe reduce the pain–but instead a jolt shocked his body and he collapsed to the ground. "What I told you. Ha, after all I had to come for you,"Ness heard inside his head.

Paula was beside Ness. Her eyes widened as she saw Ness falling. She rushed to his side, her heart pounding her chest."Ness! Ness! What's wrong?"

Ness sat up. He ignored the pain in his head and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know what happened." The only response he got was the worried look on Paula's blue eyes. "I'm… I'm okay."

"Is everything right?" Claus called from the opposite side.

Ness was still bewildered, not only because of the pain but the strange message. He responded with an uncertain nod. Uncertain, something unusual in him.

Ness stared at the commander. Something told him he was the one who spoke in his mind. And then the commander nodded. Was that a nod? Probably his imagination seeking for an answer.

Kumatora saw no movement in her teammates. They just stood there. Doing what? She wondered. Were they thinking of their future deaths if no one moved? Perhaps they for the others, she was not going to wait for the Pigmask to come and annihilate them. Hell no.

"PK…" She threw her arms in the air, imagining the aftermath of her next action. "Starstorm!"

Kumatora got the group's eyes on her. Was she really doing that?

Several meteors raced down from the skies, covering an area triple the size the Pigmask army was using. Nonetheless, Kumatora counted at least 6 of them colliding with the Pigmask directly. And she was right.

2 meteors crashed with the soldiers in the back. The meteors created a fountain of rock and soil which rose high in the air (Kumatora knew there was more than rock and soil in that explosion). Another meteor hit near the center of the formation. Vehicles were crushed and soldiers and chimeras were trapped in the shockwave and heat. The last 3 meteors menaced the commander and the area around him. Kumatora grinned wryly at what was going to happen next. The 3 meteors were now so close to the commander, Kumatora was sure he could already feel their heat. At the last moment, the commander's head jerked skywards. He reached out with both arms and aimed at the flaming rocks. The meteors stopped dead in their tracks.

Kumatora gasped. The momentum in the meteors was stopped so hastily, Kumatora thought it was compared to crash with a wall at PSI Teleport speed.

The commander pulled his arms back, the meteors following his movements–midair.

"Ready Ness?" He felt a piercing pain across his head. Ness clutched his head with fury and the voice repeated the words in a telepathic voice. "Ready?"

The commander brought his extended arms to the front. Once again the meteors followed and were launched.

2 meteors were aimed to Ness, while the other to Kumatora. Poo sped to the front and managed to destroy a meteor with his sword. With his mind dazed by pain, Ness tried creating energy with his minds, but there was no response. Ness thanked Paula reacted quickly enough and thunders flew from her fingers. They struck with the remaining meteor and destroyed it.

The twins and Duster observed the meteor rush past them. "No!" Lucas screamed with helplessness.

The velocity of the meteor was faster than Kumatora's thinking. That didn't make her panic, though. She knew if she tried to destroy the meteor, she would be caught in the explosion, so there was only one thing left to do. Kumatora pulled both arms upwards and a PSI Shield arose in front of her. And yet she was aware the shield was not going to endure the meteor. It collided with the PSI Shield and shattered it, and then, just as it was going to hit Kumatora, she created a smaller PSI Shield that surrounded her. She was thrown fiercely and landed near the creek.

"Kumatora," Lucas gasped. Just as he was about to aid her, Duster raised a hand in front of him.

"I will go."

"You can't heal her!"

"But I can," Poo interfered. Alongside Duster, they rushed up to Kumatora to see her condition.

Lucas wanted to help. He felt he had to be there. Kumatora had risked her life and ended up annihilating half of that army. Now, however, Lucas had to risk his life in order to finish what Kumatora started.

"N-Ness?" Paula asked as she noticed Ness clutching his head again.

"I think it's the commander," he said and looked at Paula. She didn't understand. "Someone's communicating with me telepathically. It may be the commander."

Paula was about to respond when the familiar whizzing of a bullet warned her. "Watch out!" Ness cried and put up a wide PSI Shield.

Sparks sizzled on Paula's hands. "PK Thunder!" She raised her arm and three thunders rained on the army. Before they could hit, though, and with impressive speed, the commander took out a thunder sword handle–the same as Claus'–, he powered it on and absorbed the thunders with it.

"The PK Thunder w-will crush the shield!" Ness cried.

"PK Love!" he heard and looked at Lucas performing said power. The white energy flew towards the commander. He pointed with his sword at Lucas' PK Love and unleashed the absorbed PSI. Both, PK Thunder and PK Love clashed.

Claus seized the distraction Lucas had unknowingly created. He ran alongside the rock wall to get as closer as he could to the army. He expected to get a good shot with his thunder sword. However, the army had already spread across half the valley… Claus thoughts stopped when he spotted something in the corner of his eye. A Mecha-Lion tried to tackle him. He sidestepped and then parried a thrust from its tail. He saw the opportunity and impaled the beast in its side, electricity invading his body. At last, Claus continued.

The group was gaining ground in the battle, but then it seemed as if the enemy soldiers continued coming out from nowhere even though Kumatora had wiped out a good portion of the army. Lucas couldn't start imagining what could've happened if Kumatora didn't do her heroic move. Kumatora… Was she okay? He didn't dare to look back as a horseantula tried biting his arm off. Lucas ducked under the massive jaw and blasted the chimera with PK Love.

He spotted the commander and Boney watching the battle from the back, protected by the soldiers. Lucas wondered when they were going to attack. Then his gaze shifted from the commander to Ness, who had just collapsed.

"Are you going to give up this time? Accept there's no way you can win," the voice once again tormented Ness' mind. With each word he received a sharp pain inside his head. Ness couldn't understand a way to get rid of that voice.

Paula and Jeff rushed up to Ness' side. Jeff attempted to help Ness while Paula fought any enemy that dared to close their distance. "It's him!" Ness growled pointing a twitching finger to the commander.

Claus got a glance of Ness and saw who he was blaming for his actual condition. He finally saw an open path–a convenient gap in the Pigmask soldiers' formation–leading to the commander...

And Boney, he added.

He increased his speed with PSI, and with sword grazing the ground, he broke into a run. Before any of the soldiers were aware of his presence he was already close to the commander. Claus was coming from the side–and hopefully the commander's blind spot. He could already imagine himself finishing this fight in that moment. But the commander's head snapped to the left where he spotted Claus. His body swung to look at Claus (he noted the commander didn't have a cannon anymore. Why?).

Instantly, Fragilis–who was at the commander's right–pounced to the other side to face Claus and protect his Master. Not only Claus was facing himself, which terrified Claus to the core, but he had to cope with his mechanical, puppet dog. Boney, now Fragilis, was a perfect reflection of what Claus was just months ago. It was disturbing.

Claus was petrified. "Too scared to move?" the commander asked, his voice showed no emotion. "And to think in this form–" he pointed to his body "–nothing would have stopped you."

Claus tried to ignore the commander and instead looked at Boney. "Hey, buddy, you still remember me? It's Claus," he said as joyfully as he could with a knot in his throat.

"Pointless," the commander told Claus. "He's mine now."

"Lie!" Claus snapped. "He remembers me!" In the middle of a bad idea, Claus gave a step closer to the chimera.

Fragilis growled and looked at him with killer instinct. He whipped with his tail. Claus barely had time to react and jump back. He created space between himself and Fragilis and aimed the sword at the commander. He unleashed three thunders… The commander didn't move since Fragilis stepped in and absorbed the thunders with his tail.

Ness was standing again. He was forcing his body to fight and his mind to ignore the pain. Jeff was fighting alongside him and Paula had joined Lucas.

She caught a glimpse of Claus in the other side of the valley. When there was a pause in the action she asked Lucas, "Is your brother battling…"

"Boney," he finished her sentence. He was worried about both, Claus and Boney, and yet he couldn't resist watching. Lucas saw it as him and Claus fighting over the last Needle. An excruciating moment.

"Wait, wasn't ice Boney's only weakness?"

"It seems."

"Then we will have to help him!" she raised her voice.

"Let's do It then!" a familiar voice exclaimed from behind. It was Kumatora with Duster and Poo in her side.

Kumatora stood in front of Lucas and Paula while Poo and Duster joined forces with Ness and Jeff.

Lucas noticed Duster's limping was worse… a lot worse than normal. There was a clear difficulty in moving both legs. Sure, Duster limped but he didn't seem to have problems in walking, running or kicking–with incredible strength, Lucas added.

"The waterfall caused that," Kumatora said. Lucas gave her an I-don't-understand look, so she added, "Duster's leg. He is in very bad condition… So is Poo."

The group, with the exception of Claus, was breaking through the last soldiers in the army. Lucas was glad there were not tanks in their power; trucks with turrets already gave them a hard time, and if it was not for Duster's excellent precision with smoke bombs, Lucas wouldn't have known what to do against them.

"I will try to help Claus. C'mon Dust!" Kumatora and Duster moved away from the confrontation and searched for a clear path to get to the commander.

Fragilis pounced towards Claus, who had to dive to one side to evade the chimera.

_His tail is still glowing. I gotta be careful, he can unleash that energy at anytime._

It was not easy for Claus to keep an eye on the commander, Boney's tail and Boney himself. The dog… the chimera moved too fast for Claus to follow. He cursed under his breath. At this rate he was never going to get closer to the commander. And the worst part was Claus didn't want to fight his dog knowing death was the only way to achieve victory.

This time he backed up and tried something different. "Boney, please, please. Don't let him control you. It's me, Claus, I don't want to hurt you…" He told Boney via telepathy.

Fragilis heeded Claus. He understood each word. Claus counted 3 whole seconds without any move from the chimera. Did the words got through him?

Fragilis forgot the words he had just heard. There was no purpose in keep tail seemed to come to liveand extended to its maximum length, towering over Claus. It aimed at him.

Claus had a few moments to think of a way to defend himself. How… how! PSI Shield would be crushed against electricity! But his time ran out. The only thing he could do was raise his sword and pray it absorbed back the thunders. Hopefully.

"…Ground!" Claus heard coming from behind.

A rock wall loomed in front of him; at the same time, Fragilis unleashed the absorbed energy. The beam of electricity blasted the wall exploded in a thousand rocks and Claus was knocked back by the shockwave… but he had survived the lethal attack.

"Claus." He saw Duster rushing to offered a hand and helped Claus up.

"PK Freeze!" Kumatora was now facing Fragilis. She casted ice PSI at the chimera. It hit dead onand Fragilis flinched. Lucas was right. Ice was his weakness.

Claus knew that too. "No! Don't hurt him. He was coming back!"

"'Coming back?'" Claus heard a ghostly voice inside his head. It made him fluster."You never came back after you were… transformed."

Fragilis retaliated whipping its had no option but to put her arms up in defense. The sharpened blade in Fragilis' tail pierced through her arm.

"Kumatora!" Duster and Claus cried at the same time.

Kumatora stumbled backwards. Her eyes felt heavy after seeing a big amount of blood flowing out of her arm.

_Sorry, Boney, but I have to make this equal._

For a moment she ignored the wound and instead squeezed her right fist tightly.A bright light escaped through the closed hand. "PK Freeze!" Her hand snapped open.A gamma level, blue beam fired from her hand striking Fragilis.

Kumatora gave one more step and collapsed.

Lucas observed from afar the blue beam perforate the side of his poor dog.

_One more minute… Just wait a little more–we are coming._

Poo had told Lucas he could hear roaring at the distance. Did that mean more chimeras? Lucas almost cringed when he heard the faint roar from a Mecha-Drago.

"You go help them–we will take these last ones!" Jeff told Lucas, Paula and Poo.

They didn't argue and swiftly hurried to do as Jeff said.

While Duster was with Kumatora, Lucas joined his brother and Paula and Poo stood several feet apart. They planned to attack Fragilis all at once.

Fragilis stood his ground. Kumatora's last attack had torn apart a piece of the armor in his side. Still, he was going to continue fighting until the last breath. Those were his owner's orders. When the commander, his owner, spoke, Fragilis had to obey no matter the cost.

Paula glanced at the twins, focusing on them. "So we are not going… uh, to finish Boney, right?" They heard Paula inside their head.

Both twins nodded. They had experienced it before from both sides. Claus had come back, at least for a few seconds, from being the commander. And if he'd done it, why Boney couldn't?

It was a dangerous gamble to take. They were going to hold Boney and give Paula and Poo the opportunity to freeze him, starting from that unarmored section in his side.

Claus punched the air with anger, and announced, "Now!"

* * *

><p><strong>The second part is almost done, so it will probably be uploaded in a week or so. :)<strong>


	16. Put the Dragon to Rest Part 2

The two pairs broke into a run, ready to execute the plan.

However, every idea and direction was discarded when the commander strode forward. Stomping the ground he extended his unoccupied hand and blasted Poo and Paula with a PSI wave.

Claus skidded to a halt. Glancing back he saw the other pair rolling viciously a huge distance until the power of the PSI wave fainted and they ended sprawled in the ground. Then he realized how bad this was. He could've wanted to say his battle against Boney was hard… but it was more of a beating for Claus. Now, Lucas and him versus the commander and Boney. That seemed beyond impossible.

Surprisingly, Lucas didn't seem to think the same as him, as he was already preparing his attack.

"C'mon, Claus! We have to hold while they come back."

They obviously had to split and fight Boney and the commander individually. Claus had to go against what he related the most to–even though he hated to think about it. Besides, Lucas could create ice and that would help him against Boney.

"Take on Boney, he's mine."

Before doing anything, Lucas wanted to try one more time… "Boney, please, stop this. I know deep inside you can hear me. I promise you I will give you a bunch of treats if you stop, buddy…"

Fragilis emitted a low growl in response. Lucas asked himself if that growl was Boney or Fragilis.

There was no more time to think as Fragilis charged. Lucas sidestepped and charged a PK Love in record time. "PK Love!" He swung his hand upwards trying to land a blow but Boney was too fast.

"What are you?" Claus tried to appear calm as he walked near the commander.

"Oh, don't tell me you can't remember me," he responded swinging his sword playfully.

_He's preparing to attack. I won't let him get me with my guard down._

Claus' eyes locked on his counterpart's. He hoped to find something that could tell him about the commander. His eyes were as empty as the void.

"Ha!" The commander exclaimed, his sudden cry accompanied by a powerful thunder coming from his sword.

Claus absorbed the thunder, swung his sword and returned the attack. The commander deflected the thunder with his sword–sending it to the skies.

_That worked well as a distraction._

When the commander brought his attention back to Claus, he found Claus just a few feet from him. Claus came running with a powerful PK Love in his left hand, while in the left, if PK Love failed, was his sword craving for the commander's blood.

"PK Love!" He unleashed the PSI certain it would hit; though the commander dodged it with lethal precision and attacked with his sword. Claus parried and countered with a PSI-charged fist. The commander deftly blocked the punch and trapped Claus' arm with a small force field.

Claus freed himself at the last moment and ducked under the commander's sword. He landed a fist on the commander's stomach. Unfortunately for Claus,the commander barely flinched and retaliated with a kick that pushed Claus back. Before Claus could move, the commander casted a thunder. Claus slashed blindly at the air and prayed to catch the thunder. He did! But it required a strong footingto hold such power, and so he was caught by surprise and thrown into the ground.

Fragilis strived to pounce on Lucas, just like a lion over his prey. Lucas spread both arms and caught Boney mid-air with PSI. With a move from his armshe slammed Boney into the ground and rushed towards him.

Lucas thought he could take down Boney by himself if he used PK Freeze perfectly. "PK Freeze!" He raised his arm and the cold chill that was PK Freeze enveloped his hand. However, before he could hit Boney, the chimera shoved Lucaswith his powerful paw.

Lucas landed roughly on the ground. He saw Boney's immense frame stand, towering over him.

"PK Freeze!" A blue beam blasted Fragilis in the side. The chimera howled in pain.

He looked back to see Paula, Ness and Jeff coming.

Lucas rose to his feet and listened to Ness, "I am going to help Claus, you two stay with Lucas."

"Remember, no lethal attacks. The plan is to pin down Boney and," he nodded for Paula, "you will freeze Boney."

Before they could do the first move, though, Fragilis was charging in their direction. Lucas stepped forward and said, "PK Love!" Fragilis bounded to the left, avoiding the attack… and fell on the slime Jeff had shot there a moment ago.

"Go!" Lucas signaled Paula and Jeff to follow him. He ran as fast as he could. He had to seize this moment.

He opened both hands, mustering as much PSI as he could. He was sure he could tackle Boney down.

Claus got to his feet with difficulty when Ness arrived. "Hey–" Ness stopped midsentence when he… sensed something? There was something familiar in the commander. Something disgustingly familiar, he added.

"Why, hello, Ness!" the commander said; even though he intended to sound with derision, there was not a trace of emotion in his voice.

A chill shuddered Ness' body as the words pierced his ears.

With a bound the commander was on Ness. He slashed twice, and Ness summoned small, twin PSI Shields–they broke in contact. Ness launched a fist at the commander. The commander took it and pivoted around Ness. The commander didn't have time to use his sword, so he blasted Ness with raw PSI.

As the commander brimmed with ecstasyafter attacking Ness, Claus charged PSI. "PK Thunder!"

Three thunders escaped from Claus' sword, eager to find their prey. The commander grinned and spunas the thunders flew towards him. The sword ate the thunders and gained a brighter color. He was going to keep that for later.

He blasted Claus with a PSI wave and ran off towards Fragilis and the others.

"Ness!" Claus called.

"I know, let's go." He offered a hand, which Claus accepted and pulled him to his feet.

Lucas was about to ram into Boney when he heard Jeff calling him, "Lucas, look out!" He skidded to a halt when the commander appeared in the corner of his eye. The PSI energy was promptly transferred to his right hand, ready to fend off the commander.

The commander bounded forward and thrust. Lucas blocked the sword with his PSI-enveloped hand. The commander threw a punch to Lucas' face. In response he stopped the fist with his other hand (Lucas felt the PSI slipping away from his body).

The commander found himself in a deadlock while Fragilis was struggling to repel the others. He had to finish this already and destroy that Needle. He threw a kick at Lucas. Once, the boy was knocked to the ground the commander said, "Fragilis, come!"

With a menacing roar–that almost flew Ness' hat off–Fragilis made everyone fighting him flinch. At the next second he hurried up to his owner to execute any order he wished.

Fragilis arrived at the commander's side. He turned his head to Fragilis and spoke to him telepathically. Fragilis made a low growl and lowered his tail in front of his owner. With a twisted grin the commander discharged the energy on his sword onto the chimera's special tail.

Lucas suppressed a sigh of relief when he saw Claus and Ness sneaking behind the commander.

"Oh, Ness, always so predictable," the commander muttered. "Now, Fragilis!"

The commander leaped forward and swung his arms around. Before anyone could react, a powerful PSI wave shocked them.

Claus and Ness froze for a moment. Bad idea. Fragilis moved and pounced on Ness. After being tackled down, Ness found himself under Fragilis, between his legs, and inches from his mouth.

Fragilis stepped back, careful not to stomp Ness or let him free. He watched every detail on the chimera. His lackluster eyes that were locked on his; his tail swaying back and forth like a cobra ready to attack, and his metallic fur shinning under the sun. But, were those small details important now? Perhaps not. Perhaps he was just diverting his attention from what was coming: an inevitableend.

Paula was kneeling, trying to stand up, when she saw Ness under Fragilis. She ignored her heart hammering her throat and yelled–not Ness' name, but his last hope–, "Claus!"

He snapped out of his trance, and looked at Ness. Claus was a mere steps from saving Ness… but at what cost? Killing Boney. That was it.

He knew what he had to do. If he finished Boney, the commander would be alone and then they could easily pull the Needle. The time stopped and his body too. He couldn't harm Boney like that. No. He didn't want to say good-bye to his dog forever. Worst: he didn't want to be the cause of it.

_Why I have to decide? No one should die!_

Was it bad luck hewas to decide who should die? The destiny had imposedhimthe power of the reaper itself and he had to use it one way or another. He wondered what would've happened if he was not there in that moment. There would definitely be no future for Ness.

Claus held his word two-handed and saw a faint reflection of himself. He chose what to do.

The glow of his sword almost blinded Claus after feedingit with PSI. He strode quickly up to Boney and froze for an instant. His "dog"–if he could fancy calling him like that–stared at Ness with killer eyes, not minding Claus.

Fragilis roared one more time before bringing his tail down. Rage and guilt filled Claus' body in that moment the time seemed to slow down. He thrust his sword**. **The thunder sword plunged–with a disgusting sound–in Fragilis' exposed side. Blood trickled down the blade as electricity was unleashed inside Fragilis. His tail lost the energy stored, plumped into the ground; the constant movement in his eyes slowed down until they stood unmoving, and Claus sworethe color of his fur dimmed.

Fragilis fell on his side, metallic legs still overNess. Claus dropped his sword and fell on his knees. Tears began to showin his eyes.

"Fragilis!" The commander snarled outraged. He wasn't sad over Fragilis' death, but angry. The chimera hadnot carried out his orders.

"Boney!" Lucas' voice broke instantly. He couldn't believe what he saw… His brother just killed Boney! He was angry with Claus. But deep inside, he was just dissappointed. Maybe there was still a bit of the commander's mercilessness inside Claus.

_I have to think about Ness. Claus did it for Ness._

It was obvious. If Claus had not… done that, Ness wouldn't be here anymore. It was not a cold-bloodedassassination. Claus must have had struggled with the choice. Ness or Boney. Lucas understood. Claus was not merciless. He killed a monster and saved Ness. Besides, he freed Boney from the horrible fate he had to face.

"What I've done?" Claus muttered.

Ness walked up to Claus and squatted in front of him. "It's okay, Claus," Ness squeezed his shoulder in indemonstrable gratitude. "Thank you. I know it was not easy but… seriously thanks for saving me. Relax, Boney is in a better place. And well… I can't thank you enough, Claus." Though Ness' words comforted Claus a little, Ness didn't know what to say.

"Come on!" the commander yelled. "So much drama for… that!" He pointed at Boney's body. "The saddest thing is he didn't kill any of you."

"You…" Lucas' eyes were shadowed by his disheveled golden locks.

Claus rose to his feet, grasping his sword so forcefully his knuckles were turning white.

"The heroic brothers, of course. The faster I kill you, the faster I can destroy that Needle."

Lucas and Claus instantly dashed off. "Wait!" Ness and Paula yelled at Claus and Lucas respectively.

Claus whipped his sword and shot 4 thunders. The commander slashed his sword, absorbing each one of them.

"PK Love!" the commander heard a cry from behind. He didn't have the opportunity to see the source though. Lucas blasted him in the back with pure energy. He fell in front of Claus.

"For Boney!" Claus brought down his sword**. **It impaled the rock beneath them, though; the commander rolled at the last moment. Before the twins could do any other movement, he backed up.

"PK Starstorm!" Poo called. 3 flaming rocks spedfrom the sky. When they were close to him, the commander extended his right hand to hold the meteors mid-air.

And then he heard, "PK Rockin!" He saw the blinding light of said power closing in. There was not enough time to do anything but put his sword in front. He held for a moment before being hurled across several feet by raw energy. There was no correct way to stop PK Starstorm and Rockin' at the same time.

"Ness…" the commander muttered. "I thought you were going to be happy that I'd come for you."

"I don't know you. You are only a ghost from the past," Ness said remembering Claus' story as the commander.

"Exactly, Ness, I am a ghost of the past… with the exception of being a ghost, of course. We were best friends in the past."

"I don't understand." Though Ness was mainly diverting the commander's attention for a surprise attack, he was growing curious of his words.

"I promised I would be back. Didn't Picky tell you?"

"P-Picky…" Ness' teeth were trembling. "Pokey?"

The realization struck everyone with amazement, awe, confusion…–though in different ways for the Eaglelanders and those from the Nowhere Islands.

Even Duster, who was carefully sneaking behind Pokey, forgot what he was doing in the middle of the revelation. He stood there, widened eyes looking at the commander's body. It was not more than a shell.

"Porky? That's not possible!" Lucas said with exasperation, his hands shinning with PSI begging to be unleashed.

"Thankfully it is! I had to travel to an alternate time, and search for a body I could take over using PSI… but then I found out a body can't have two souls–mine and the original one. That's when a name… no, something popped up. I remembered my little robot. I had taken away his heart and hence there was just a faint trace of a soul. I got rid of that and bingo! I had a new body." One would think there was no point in explaining Porky's disturbing search, but he found it fun. He wanted attention and getting it made him happy. Besides, the look in everyone's faces was priceless. Oh, how much fun he was having.

"You were inside the Absolutely Safe Capsule, how you got out?" Lucas asked.

"I didn't. That's why I came here in another body. I merely transferred my soul into this…" Porky ranhis hands in frontof his body. "Empty shell. Who would've thought you would be of any use after dying!" He directed the last sentence to Claus.

"Guys, we ought to attack at once. Ready?" Paula communicated through her friends' minds.

Ness saw the opportunity in the middle of Pokey's lecture. He was so immersed in his story maybe they could surprise him. "PK Rockin'!" Ness threw his hands forward, releasing the multicolored energy. Porky ducked under the attack, but Paula was already one step ahead.

"PK Freeze!" she cried. An omega level snowflake exploded near Porky, filling the air with a mist. The mistcleared only to show the leftovers of what had been a PSI Shield.

Porky had to destroy that Needle and quickly! He broke into a run towards it. But Jeff was already aiming at him. He shot twice. One shot grazed his jacket, while the other landed in his free hand. An explosion of blood and small mechanical parts warned Porky he had been hit. He was grateful this body couldn't feel pain… or anything else.

Porky slowed down, almost stumbling. It was strange to not have a hand anymore. So that was how his robot felt with the cannon. Porky remembered he'd ordered to get the cannon replaced for a cybernetic hand. And now he didn't have nor the hand or the cannon.

Claus felt a slight revulsion when he saw what the last shot did. That was once his body–like it or not–and seeing it lost a limb was disturbing.

Jeff wondered how Porky didn't slow down, or his body showed trauma. Then, he remembered that body wasn't completely natural. It must've had a way of closing wounds or stop bleeding. Honestly, Jeff found incredible the use of technology.

"…Fire!" A fire wall forced Porky halt dead in his tracks**.** Kumatora stood in the opposite side of the valley, a flame hoveringin her palm. She was not going to go down that easily. She sported a bandage in her left arm. Even though PSI Healing helped curing her arm, she thanked Duster was a good… umm, emergency doctor.

Duster finally got near Porky. He whipped the Rope Snake at Porky. The snake got a firm grip on his neck. Duster signaled the others to help him.

Ness charged with a PK Rockin' in his hand. Duster was wise to move away before Ness released the energy. Ness swore PK Rockin' landed. However, in a desperate move, Porky had tried blocking it with his sword. The sword barely managed to stay in one piece but slipped out of Porky's hand.

Ness threw a fist at Porky's face. "Good thing you came back so I can finally end you!"

He recoiled and then struck back with a punch on Ness' eye. He was knocked into the ground. "Ha! I will end you–" Before he could finish, Duster interrupted with a kick that dazed Porky. And just as he was about to follow up, Porky swung an arm, sending Duster flying with the power of PSI.

Paula, Jeff and Poo came in. Porky ducked under a PK Thunder Paula had sent in his way. He blasted her with a PSI wave. Then Poo took advantage and got closer. He thrust his sword aiming at Porky's heart, but he was faster. He kicked Poo in the stomach and with a thrust of his hand, Poo flew several feet. A moment later, Porky heard the particular sound of Jeff's gun. He was not going to take his other hand. Porky raised a PSI Counter, defending himself from three shots. The explosive rounds were deflected back near Jeff, causing an explosion. Jeff couldn't keep the grasp on his gun as he was knocked down.

"PK Love!" Lucas seemed to come out of nowhere, his PSI burning bright. And when Porky noticed him it was too late. Lucas' hand wielding PK Love connected with Porky's torso. He was thrown skywards before he suddenly stopped mid-air. His insides bounced and he felt he had just crashed with a wall. Porky's eyes were heavy but he managed to turn his head and see the reason why he stopped. Claus was glaring at him, one arm outstretched. Porky would've broken freeassuming his body had not been falling apart. Claus, using PSI, lifted Porky high in the air and slammed him down. As he came down, Porky scraped his back with a wing in the Needle's decorative dragon at its tip. Claus picked him up once more and slammed Porky into the ground.

"You!"

"Wait," Claus told Ness, who was back on his feet.

"What?"

"I need to do something." He glanced at Lucas, "Can you help?"

Lucas walked over to Claus, wondering what was in his twins' mind. Claus took Lucas' hand. "I'm almost out of PSI, and I want you to see this with me." Lucas frowned, curiously.

Porky had problems listening clearly to what Claus said. His eyes shifted from Claus to Ness, then to Lucas and back to Ness. Their mouths were moving and their expression showed they were going to do something with him.

Each twin laid a hand on Porky's forehead. They closed their eyes and pierced through Porky's exposed mind.

Inside Porky's eyes the twins saw: how Porky admired Claus when he was at death's door after fighting the Mecha-Drago; Porky playing like a little boy with a yoyo, the room around him full of colors and toys. Smiling broadly as he played baseball with Ness. With Ness at his side, the two of them gawked at a shinning meteor in front of them; Porky looking at Lucas from the inside of the Absolutely Safe Capsule. Lastly, Porky grinning maliciously at the four Eaglelanders while inside a twirling, red and black dimension–that almost made Lucas disconnect from Porky's mind.

_There's something else_ _I'm searching for._ Claus focused harder on what he wanted to see. Lucas followed him unconsciously.

_Finally. _There it was. Boney wandered around the house, playing with a butterfly and barking lightly at the sheep, as if he were a sheepdog.

Claus succeeded to freeze the memory there. Porky was probably stalking the house from the distance. Nonetheless, he enjoyed watching Boney as, well, Boney, and he was sure Lucas was enjoying as well. Then the memory resumed. Porky got out of his hiding place and made his way towards the twins' house.

Claus panicked. _No, not that! _Somehow he skipped that memory andfast forwarded into another one. In this memory he saw Boney connected to several machines. He was being prepared for the ultimate transformation. Claus hesitated watching the memory. He also studied the room around them. He had seen it before behind the eyes of the commander. He would remember later.

Porky was talking with a man in a white lab coat. The scientist made a sound with his mouth that expressed disagreement. "I'm telling you, this won't work. The chances are minuscule."

"I don't care," he snarled. "The dog will die either way." Those words fed Claus hatred for Porky. He wanted to snap out and finish him already.

There was a long silence. The scientist was thinking in an alternate way to pull this off and don't get beheaded bythe king. "We could bring another subject and…"

"Another subject is useless. This dog has special PSI capabilities. I know it. Besides," he added slowly. "That dog is the twins'." _That bastard._

"Let me finish, my king." The scientist walked over to the unconscious Boney. "We could clone the dog and enhance him from the start. If he's strong, he would've more chances than this one…"

"Won't cloning it will take time?"

"Yeah, but I'm considering you can use you Time-Distortion PSI and boosts its growth."

"Good idea." Porky could've done a thousand things if he wasn't trapped in this primitive body. In comparison to his normal body, this body was one of a caveman's. But his original body was trapped inside the capsule. Now he had to think differently.

"Thank you, my king." The scientist bowed.

"Will you keep the dog?"

"Yes, I need it for the clone."

"Alright. Do your thing and tell me when you need me. You better succeed…" Porky began to walk away, "unless you are tired of living."

Claus terminated the memory there. Everything was engulfed by darkness and a chill invaded the twins' minds. They were out of Porky's head. Their eyes opened, slowly adapting back to the bright sunlight.

Several pairs of eyes watched them. The rest of the group created a semi-circle around the twins and Porky.

"Did you read his mind?" Ness said. He thought he was the only one able to do that.

It was just then when Claus realized what he had done. "Yeah. It's the first time, though. It felt so natural." He didn't know he had the ability to do so. Perhaps it was a natural skill of him.

"Boney…" Lucas smiled with nostalgia. Both twins hugged, happiness filling their hearts.

At that point, Ness was not aware of what the twins had seen so, remembering what Claus did to save him, he said, "I'm sorry, guys…"

"No, no!" Lucas raised his hands. "We saw Boney and he… he…" He was too excited to talk.

"I searched for the last moment Porky observed Boney so Lucas and I could see Boney but we stumbled upon a different memory." He stood up. Claus could give his back to Porky for this one moment. He was done already. "We saw Porky talking with a scientist about Boney. They said they were going to clone Boney and transform it into Fragilis. That means the real Boney is still in that place. I recognized were they were. A lab in the northern part of the Islands. We didn't fight the real Boney!"

"That's wonderful!" Duster exclaimed with passion. The twins were Boney's owners. Still, Kumatora and he have been travelling across the Nowhere Islands with that little chocolate slab at their side all the time. He couldn't express his delight for the news.

"We ought to…" Poo glanced at Porky then at the Needle, "pull the Needle. You ought to, Lucas, Claus."

"What about Porky?" Ness asked, not minding Porky–beside him.

"Let the Dark Dragon take charge," Lucas responded.

"Do I have to remind you we're not releasing the Dragon? We're sealing him," Kumatora said.

"Still, this Needle is probably going to unleash energy, too. Probably we can do something with it and get rid of Porky."

"It's your call," Kumatora turned to the others. "We should get some cover in case this gets crazy."

Paula looked worried for the twins, "What about you two? That energy you talk about will not…"

"We've done this before," Claus reassured her with a smile. "The one who pulls the Needle is protected."

"Good luck!"

"Be careful!"

"Hurry, I'm hungry!"

Everyone said some words to the twins before they were ordered to get cover. Kumatora stayed behind to remind them something important. "Remember Ionia said you two had to pull the Needle. It may be too much for only one of you... And, be careful." She smiled at the twins and walked away.

Porky was unconscious inches from the Needle. Lucas and Claus decided to leave him there. "Hmph. We ended up saving him from eternal exile," Lucas told his brother. He remembered the time Dr. Andonuts asked him if it was wrong the way he thought. The doctor felt bad for Porky when he caged himself in the capsule.

"Indeed, Luke. We are not evil like him. No one really deserves such a punishment. Anyway, at last, Porky will pay."

Lucas and Claus stood at each side of the final Needle. Two pairs of hands clasped each end. "Ready?" Claus asked.

"Of course, let's do it!"

They pulled, surrendering every gram of strength in the action. Inch by inch, the Needle emerges from the ground. A thin beam of light peeked from the small hole where the Needle was; it grew, transforming into a blinding light that covered a major area. The light adopted the shape of a domeand from the top the light shot skywards.

Lucas and Claus felt the intense power of the Dragon being sealed. The day the helpfrom the Dark Dragon was no longer needed it had to be sealed. Somehow, the twins knew the Dark Dragon understood.

The presence of Porky stayed inside the dome of light for a brief moment. It began to disappear after a moment and then it was completely gone. There was no good-bye, curse you, or I will come back from Porky. No more than a silent disappearance from time. It was a huge weight taken from the twins' shoulders.

Lucas didn't experience the same near-omnipotence feeling he had suffered when he released the Dragon to do his heart's will. Now, though, Claus and he were one entity, giving all their power to suppress the Dragon's power.

For the first time in his live, Claus had successfully used the power he was gifted–PK Love–to pull a Needle. Before this time, it was not him pulling the Needles but the commander, a robot of Porky. And Claus could finally comprehend how marvelous it was. Everything seemed fine while this power travelled across him.

A few tense moments for the group passed. Then, when the light started dying down, everyone let their concern come out in a long sigh.

The first thing Ness noticed was Porky's body (rather the lack of it). It was gone. This time, however, he was not coming back. At the end Ness realized he wasn't fighting his childhood friend Pokey. Instead, he fought the horrible things society made to Pokey; his parents treatment and a part of the raw evil from Giygas itself. All that inside Pokey created the power-hungry beast he saw vanishing from Earth.

A white light wrapped the twins' standing frames for a moment. When the light faded, both twins fell to the ground. Kumatora hastened and tapped Duster's shoulder furiously. "C'mon!" They rushed towards the twins, the Eaglelanders trailing behind them.

"Lucas? Claus?" Kumatora and Duster called.

The twins sat up and looked at their friends and then at the hole where the Needle was. "It's over?" Claus said.

"It is!" Ness exclaimed.

"Good job!" Paula placed a hand on each twins' shoulder.

"I can't believe we finally did it…" Jeff took a stand aside Ness.

"We went through so much and now it's done." Poo nodded at the last word.

"It is not over," Duster couldn't help but smile as he spoke. "Boney."

"Would you come with us?" Lucas offered a hand to the Eaglelanders.

"We're all a group now." Ness didn't need to accept Lucas' request directly. He just took Lucas' hand.

**xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

"Is this the place you saw?" Duster asked, surprised he had not seen this hidden facility before. Well, if it was hidden, what he expected?

The place reminded Duster of the chimera laboratory. It was big, mostly white and with an air of mystery. Mortal beasts were created inside as their lives ended tragically. Duster was a bit nervous. He had seen a place like this before and he knew death was around every corner and behind each single door. Deep inside he hoped, he prayed, Boney was not a victim of some other experiment.

The group walked up to the door, the Eaglelanders oblivious to what exploring a place like the chimera lab was. Lucas had explained them as best as he could what he saw the time he ventured into a chimera lab. His words made most of the Eaglelanders shiver at the tale that seemed to come out from a horror movie.

"It is safe to enter… like this?" Jeff asked, considering any event that could happen inside. Lucas looked so calm and casual about this. They were going to enter into a chimera lab!

"We'll see." Claus mock response was accompanied by a shrug.

Lucas pushed a button and the double doors slid open.

There were four Pigmask soldiers completely suited for combat. They just snapped out of Porky's control. Oblivious to what had happened before they glanced at their weapons and aimed them at the group. If there were guns in their hands there had to be for some purpose. A soldier glanced at his three teammates. They were all uniformed alike. And, the soldier mused, if he was at this strange place's lobby with high caliber riffles, there was a clear reason why. He was watching over this place. He leveled his weapon in self-defense. It was instinct, though, he would've never shot.

Lucas raised both arms, signaling the soldiers to calm. "It's okay. You may not know what you are doing here," Lucas had spoken to a couple of people that were once soldiers. They could never describe the experience completely. It was an utter brainwashand mind-control what Porky did to them. Rarely an ex-Pigmask remembered his actions as a Pigmask. "There was somebody controlling you. He's gone now–you can go wherever you want. This place will soon be abandoned, I assure you."

One of the soldiers relaxed his finger on the trigger and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He eyed Lucas up and down. The kid seemed honest. He took off his helmet one-handed and nodded for his teammates. "We should put our guns down." Everyone obeyed him.

He smiled at them and said, "First, you can call me Ben. And as strange as your explanation may sound to me, it seems the best reason why I'm here holding a gun–which I've never done before." He let the rifle in a desk to his left and asked, "I doubt you came here just to tell us that, though. Are you looking for something?"

Lucas was happy the man had reasoned _that _quickly. He returned the smile and spoke for the group. "Glad to meet you, I'm Lucas. We are here for my dog. He was implicated in all this mess by the same person that controlled you. Name's Boney. He is somewhere around here."

The soldier standing besides Ben rummaged through his pockets. An odd memory told him he might have had something useful in there. He felt a keycard and offered it to Lucas. "I think this may help you to get your way around the place. "

The 3 soldiers followed his example and searched for more keycards. The group was soon given 4 keycards.

Claus stepped forward, "Thanks, this will be very useful. I recommend you to leave this place. You have control of yourselves again."

Ness glanced at one of the soldiers dropping his weapon. "Keep the rifles. They are quite cool."

The group separated. 4 pairs searched through the maze the chimera lab was. Opening each door with trembling fingers, they lost count of the amount of rooms this place held until one of them stumbled with what they were searching.

Ness passed his hand across the upper section of a metal door. Wasn't it supposed to be a window there? Ness sighed. He hated these windowless doorways. Too mysterious. He looked over his shoulder and said, "Get ready– I don't want another of those lions surprising me."

"Go ahead," Paula told him as her palms went ablaze.

Ness held the keycard in his left hand, near its slot, and his trusty bat in the other hand. He slid the keycard and prepared for the worst. But his imagination didn't live up to what he really saw.

"Boney?" Ness asked to himself. The twins had shared a mental image of Boney: a medium sized, brown dog… and that was it. Ness didn't find any other specific features. He was confident the brown dog he was seeing now was Boney. _I mean, how much brown dogs you will find in this kind of place?_ The room was mostly empty with only a few machines and a doghouse, Boney and what looked as a scientist. The person was facing away from Ness, while petting the dog at the opposite end of the room. "Call the others," Ness told Paula.

She closed her eyes and focused in the other 6. "We've found Boney," they received the message as a mental voice. She opened her eyes quickly and glanced around. "Third floor in the middle of a hallway."

The scientist introduced himself as Christopher, the chief scientist in the second generation of the chimera project. He expressed how wrong he felt with each inhuman surgery he performed in every animal that reached his table. "And despite deep inside I was disgusted by my actions, I couldn't stop," he explained Ness. Later, he saw the opportunity to save Boney and took it without hesitating. Christopher personally looked after Boney until he was completely healthy again. Fortunately, Boney recovered in record time and Christopher decided to adopt it.

Claus stormed into the room, hair disheveled and sweat dripping from his chin. Duster arrived an instant later. Claus brought his hand to his mouth in surprise. "B-Boney?"

Boney, seated beside Christopher as he talked with Ness, leaped to his feet, delight filling his small body.

Claus kneed, receiving Boney with opened arms. "I missed you _so _much, buddy!"

"I, too, am glad!" Claus heard inside his head. He blinked twice looking at Boney… Of course, he had the ability to hear Boney now. His life was going to change being able to listen to his dog, he thought with a squeal.

Soon enough, Lucas arrived, alongside Kumatora–and Poo and Jeff a minute later.

The reunion transformed into a corny, hug-filled one. Nonetheless, Ness couldn't explain the inner relief and happiness he felt as he was part of this reunion.

Later that day Ness and Poo teleported the party to the Nowhere Islands. The group decided to travel together for the rest of the day, and the Eaglelanders decided it would be nice to go to the twins' house at first.

Lucas and Claus shared feelings. They had seen their parents not much ago and, still, it felt like an eternity. It made the twins' blood pump nearly as much as in the valley. Were they nervous? No, just anxious. Flint and Hinawa were already trying to accept Boney's… disappearance, and they didn't expect Claus and Lucas bringing the dog with them. It was going to be a huge surprise for sure.

"I'm glad after nearly killing each other, we're able to combine strengths and put an end to Porky." Claus patted Jeff in the back.

"Not an end to this group we've formed, however." Jeff returned the gesture.

"There is it, dude. You are a few steps from your home. Feeling nervous?" Ness asked Lucas.

"A little actually," Lucas chuckled. "I don't know why–probably just the leftover of what we experienced."

"Probably." Ness spotted the twins' parents involved in the reconstruction of their house. He smiled. "Go and tell them we have saved everyone… again!"

Flint and Hinawa heard a familiar voice nearby. Though still a bit far, Ness' energetic voice was clear to them. They turned around and their hearts skipped a beat.

Lucas and Claus froze for a second and then broke into a run towards their parents. Boney followed instantly.

Neither Hinawa nor Flint could process what their eyes were showing them. Boney? They couldn't believe it was not a trick from their minds until everyone working in the house paused and turned to see the incoming heroes.

"A-Are y-you," Hinawa couldn't stop stumbling her words for a reason. She forgot the knot in her nervous throat and asked firmly, "Are you back?"

Flint prayed to get the answer he wanted. He could feel his heartbeats hammering his chest.

"We are back!" The twins' cry of relief was stressed by Boney's bark. "Finally!"

The rest of the group caught up to the twins' family. Every bit of adrenaline and fear was already gone in their bodies, and replaced with the shared feeling of harmony.

Lucas then remembered something he wanted to do. The beautiful valley of the Eight Needle hadn't abandoned his head. Yeah! He was oh-so-eager to have a picnic there.

* * *

><p><strong>And finally it's over. I can't believe after so much time. And I mean <em>so<em> much time.** **It's quite amazing to see my first fic finished. Phew, it took me quite some time.**

**As a little extra I want to say one of my early ideas for the fic. It was going to be really different. I had thought of Lucas and Claus travelling across the islands recovering 7 shards to complete the Resting Needle. Yes, each part was where the seven Needles used to be. So, basically it was going to be a retelling. That was an early idea and it's good to see I made this totally different since I'm very pleased with the result.**

**Now, I just gotta give a big thank you to everyone who read it and enjoyed it!**


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